Facebook (META -0.83%) is going after individuals and companies in the U.S. and Europe who use unauthorized automation software to glean personal information about users via a practice known as data scraping or to otherwise circumvent its terms of service.
In a blog post Thursday, the tech stock said it, along with Facebook Ireland, sued MGP25 Cyberint Services and its founder in the commercial court of Madrid for providing automation software to generate fake likes and comments on Instagram, its photo-sharing social media network. The social media giant said the company, which operated out of Spain, continued to offer its service that circumvented Instagram’s policies even after receiving a Cease and Desist letter and its accounts were disabled.
IMAGE SOURCE: INSTAGRAM.
Facebook also sued Mohammad Zaghar in San Francisco court for running Massroot8, a data scraping service that asked users to provide their Facebook login credentials on the Massroot8 website. The credentials were used to scrape data, Facebook said in the blog post. The company alleges Zaghar also deployed a network of bots that pretended to be an Android device connected to Facebook’s mobile app. Zaghar also received a Cease and Desist letter from Facebook and had his accounts disabled but continued to engage in the practice.
Facebook said its move to file lawsuits in both Europe and the U.S. is the first time it’s used legal action in two jurisdictions to enforce its Terms of Service and protect users. "Today's legal actions demonstrate our commitment to enforcing our policies and holding people accountable for abusing our services,” said Jessica Romero, Director of Platform Enforcement and Litigation in the blog post.
