Facebook allegedly approached spyware maker NSO to track activities of its own users
Israel-based surveillance app maker NSO group has reportedly
claimed that Facebook has approached them to spy on its own users. According to
NSO's claim, two representatives from the popular social media giant allegedly
contacted NSO to buy a few modules of its infamous surveillance software
Pegasus. A Vice report cited the request from a statement issued by NSO CEO
Shalev Hulio.
The allegation
In 2017, Facebook purchased a web analytics company dubbed
Onavo and launched a VPN service called Onavo Project. According to Hulio's
statement, Facebook was not getting enough data from iPhone users through the
Onavo Project compared to its Android users.
"The Facebook representative stated that Facebook was
concerned that its method for gathering user data through Onavo Project was
less effective on Apple devices than Android devices," claimed the
statement.
"The Facebook representatives also stated that Facebook
wanted to use purported capabilities of Pegasus to monitor users on Apple
devices and was willing to pay for the ability to monitor Onavo Project
users," it added.
The NSO CEO's statement also alleged that the persons from
Facebook had offered to pay a monthly fee on each Onavo Project iPhone user.
But NSO declined the offer since Facebook is a private concern and the proposal
had nothing to do with any interest related to any state government.
The NSO chief has claimed that their company offers its
surveillance product Pegasus "only for the prevention or investigation of
crimes and terrorism and ensure that the technology will not be used for human
rights violations".
What really happened
In October 2019, Facebook sued the cybersecurity company
over claims of hacking its instant messenger WhatsApp's users. In the
complaint, Facebook claimed that the company had manipulated the WhatsApp
servers to spread malware and compromise as many as 1,400 WhatsApp users.
The
list included many journalists, diplomats, human rights activists, and senior
government officials. Facebook claimed that NSO's flagship software Pegasus has
illegally accessed messages from WhatsApp, Skype, Telegram, Facebook Messenger,
WeChat and Apple's iMessage. NSO hit back at Facebook, asserting that the
company offers its technology only to government intelligence and law
enforcement agencies to combat heinous crimes and terrorism-related activities.
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