Facebook Sues Developer for Alleged Data-Stealing Scheme

By Mary Anne R. First Posted: Aug 28, 2020 12:33 AM EDT

Social media giant Facebook has filed a lawsuit on Thursday against MobiBurn for allegedly harvesting information about the social media's users without permission.

Facebook and Twitter started investigations into two third-party software development kits in November last year.

Security researchers found that these two SDKs were collecting data without consent.

SDKs are building blocks developers can use instead. These codes have a price to app users.

SDKs can be free to developers in exchange for user data, according to a report.

This essentially means that you can be tracked by companies you have never heard of.

For instance, when you download an app that finds cheap gas, your location data may be actively sold to data brokers.

The practice is common across the data industry. Companies are saying that it is disclosed in their privacy policies.

But studies found that people do not read privacy policies, which cast a doubt on these assertions of transparency.

Facebook argues in its lawsuit that MobiBurn was not transparent with its actions.

Facebook further accuses of the company of getting data from people's devices without consent.

The SDK would get a digital key for the "Log In with Facebook" feature, and use to make requests for data from Facebook every 24 hours.

The Facebook sent a cease-and-desist order to the UK-based company last December.

Under the lawsuit, MobiBurn allegedly had its SDK in about 400 apps for gaming, security, and utility.

The SDK could also other information on the user's device such as call logs, location data, contact details, and apps on the phone.

MobiBurn did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

MobiBurn released a statement last November denying the accusations.

The developer further said that there are no data from Facebook that is collected, shared, or monetized by MobiBurn.

Facebook claimed MobiBurn of paying developers to install its SDK in their apps. The codes remain hidden.

The code harvested data until Facebook disabled app acess last November. MobiBurn also since disabled its SDK.

Facebook said that MobiBurn is not cooperating with its request for an audit.

Facebook added that it wants an injunction to reinforce its ban against MobiBurn using its platform.

"Today's actions are the latest in our efforts to protect people who use our services, hold those who abuse our platform accountable, and advance the state of the law around data misuse and privacy," Jessica Romero, Facebook's director of platform enforcement and litigation, was quoted in a report.