According to Bloomberg, Meta was sued for allegedly developing a covert bypass to Apple security safeguards introduced last year to shield iPhone users from having their online activities tracked. Two Facebook users filed a complaint in the San Francisco federal court on Wednesday accusing Meta of disobeying Apple’s 2021 privacy guidelines, breaking state and federal laws, and restricting the unauthorised collecting of personal data.
Both cases are from the US District Court for the Northern District of California and are titled Willis v. Meta Platforms Inc., 22-cv-05376, and Mitchell v. Meta Platforms Inc., 22-cv-05267 (San Francisco).
A comparable case was submitted to the same court last week. The lawsuits are based on a study by data privacy researcher Felix Krause. Krause allegedly claimed that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram apps for Apple’s iOS insert JavaScript code onto user-visited websites, according to Bloomberg. The programming, according to Krause, allowed the apps to monitor “everything you do on any page,” even entering passwords.
Meta agreed with the claim that Facebook tracks browser activity but refuted claims that user data was being unlawfully collected.
Meta has also been under fire recently for its adverse human rights impact during the Israel-Palestine conflict. The social media platform recognised mistakes made by people and technical issues but made clear that there was no bias.
Israel-Palestine conflict
During the war with Israel in May 2021, Palestinian users were unfairly targeted by post moderation and technical challenges on Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, Meta claimed on Wednesday.
According to statements the internet giant made to reporters, Hebrew content was mostly undisturbed by the crisis, although Arabic content had been subject to post limits, hashtag removal, and resharing blocks.
Throughout the crisis, there was an imbalance between the enforcement of Hebrew and Arabic material. Palestinian journalists claimed that their WhatsApp accounts had been restricted; once more, this was presented as an error and fixed after Meta was informed.
Meta said that in the lead-up to the outbreak of violence on May 10, a “global technical glitch” occurred, preventing users from re-sharing posts, including Israel and Palestine. Miranda Sissons, global human rights director for Meta said that this was “not intentional or targeted but a global error that affected tens of millions of people.”
