Facebook sues two companies engaged in data harvesting operation

The two companies engaged in the international data harvesting operation include an Israeli-based company BrandTotal Ltd. and Unimania Inc., incorporated in Delaware. According to Facebook, these companies exploited users' access to its service through a set of browser extensions called "UpVoice" and "Ads Feed" designed to access and collect data.

Facebook said today it is pursuing legal action against two companies that scraped user data from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Amazon to sell marketing intelligence and other services, thereby violating its Terms of Service.

The two companies engaged in the international data harvesting operation include an Israeli-based company BrandTotal Ltd. and Unimania Inc., incorporated in Delaware. According to Facebook, these companies exploited users' access to its service through a set of browser extensions called "UpVoice" and "Ads Feed" designed to access and collect data.

When people installed the extensions and visited Facebook websites, the browser extensions used automated programs to scrape their name, user ID, gender, date of birth, relationship status, location information, and other information related to their accounts. The data was then sent to a server shared by BrandTotal and Unimania.

Today's actions are the latest in Facebook's efforts to crack down on the companies scraping user data as well as those who enable them. In March 2019, Facebook sued two Ukrainian developers who were harvesting data using quiz apps and browser extensions to scrape profile information and people's friends' lists on Facebook.

"Litigation is just one of the tools we use to combat scraping. We've also invested in technical teams and tools that monitor and detect suspicious activity and the use of unauthorized automation for scraping. This focus on scraping is part of our ongoing work to protect people's privacy," Facebook wrote in a blog post.