Facebook headquarters. Photo: Jason Doiy/ALMFacebook Files Suits in Europe, California Seeking to Bar Unauthorized Access Via Software
"This is one of the first times a social media company is using coordinated, multi-jurisdictional litigation to enforce its Terms and protect its users," wrote Jessica Romero, Facebook's director of platform enforcement and litigation, in a company blog post announcing the actions.
June 18, 2020 at 12:19 PM
2 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
Facebook Inc. has announced coordinated litigation efforts in Europe and California to enforce its terms of service regarding the use of unauthorized software on Facebook and Instagram.
Jessica Romero, Facebook's director of platform enforcement and litigation, announced the two lawsuits, one filed in the commercial court of Madrid and the other in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, in a company blog post Thursday.
"This is one of the first times a social media company is using coordinated, multi-jurisdictional litigation to enforce its terms and protect its users," wrote Romero.
The defendants in the lawsuit in Spain, MGP25 Cyberint Services and its founder, are accused of operating software to create fake likes and comments on Instagram post. According to Facebook, the service was designed to evade Instagram rules barring fake engagement on the social media site by mimicking the connection created by Instagram's official app. "The defendants did this for profit, and continued to do so even after we sent a Cease and Desist letter and disabled their accounts," Romero wrote in Thursday's post. The Spanish lawsuit, filed on behalf of both Facebook and Facebook Ireland, seeks an injunction permanently banning the defendants from the platform.
In the California lawsuit, Facebook's lawyers at Hunton Andrews Kurth claim that Morocco-resident Mohammad Zaghar operated Massroot8.com, a website hosted on California servers. Facebook claims the site asked users to provide their Facebook login credentials and then used those credentials to scrape user data from Facebook. According to the company, Zaghar collected user data using a network of bots, which mimicked an Android mobile device connected to the official Facebook app. According to Facebook, this violated its terms of service and Massroot8 continued even after Facebook sent a cease and desist letter and disabled Zaghar's accounts.
Zaghar and Massroot8 didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday morning.
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