Meta is taking separate legal actions against two prolific data scrapers, accusing them of offering data scraping services for Facebook and Instagram.
The first action is against a company called Octopus, a US subsidiary of a Chinese national high-tech enterprise that claims to have over one million customers. Octopus provides data scraping-for-hire services to individuals and businesses.
Data scraping, also known as web scraping, is the process of importing information from a website into a spreadsheet or local file saved on your computer. “Octopus offers to scrape data from Amazon, eBay, Twitter, Yelp, Google, Target, Walmart, Indeed, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram,” Meta says.
Meta is claiming that Octopus’ software compromises the user’s Facebook and Instagram accounts by providing the Tech. company with its authentication information. After that, it deletes all data accessible to the user’s accounts.
Next, the program retrieves phone numbers, dates of birth, and other personal information about each Facebook and Instagram friend associated with a given Octopus customer.
Meta alleges that Octopus has violated its Terms of Service and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by offering an automated scraping service and attempting to avoid detection by the company.
Per Meta,
“We are seeking a permanent injunction against Octopus. Protecting people against scraping for hire services, operating across many platforms and national boundaries, also requires a collective effort from platforms, policymakers, and civil society and is needed to deter the abuse of these capabilities both among those who sell them and those who buy them.”
The second charge is against Ekrem Ateş, a Turkish-based individual, whom Meta claims, used automated Instagram accounts to scrape data from the profiles of over 350,000 Instagram users. He scrapes data from Instagram profiles and publishes the data on his websites or clone sites, which are websites that copy and display Instagram profiles, posts, and other information without authorisation.
A clone site is a website that copies and displays Instagram profiles, posts, and other information without authorisation. According to Meta, “Our External Data Misuse team has provided an overview of how we work to safeguard people against clone sites.”
The social media company further noted that it has taken several enforcement actions against Ateş, including disabling accounts, sending a cease-and-desist letter, and revoking his access to its services.
During the first six months of 2021, Meta said it tracked over 100 different Instagram clone sites, and by mid-year, through its disruption efforts, the known clone site ecosystem was reduced by approximately 90%.
