Lawsuit Investigation: Did Facebook Use Its Onavo VPN App to Spy on You?

Attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe that Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) may have violated state and federal wiretapping laws by using its VPN app, Onavo Protect, to collect users’ private data.

It’s been reported that Facebook programmed Onavo Protect to monitor users’ activities on apps like Snapchat, Amazon and YouTube and then analyzed this information to get a leg up on its competitors. After facing criticism over these privacy concerns, Facebook was forced to pull Onavo Protect from the Apple App Store in 2018 and the Google Play Store in 2019.

The attorneys are now looking into whether a class action lawsuit can be filed against Meta over possible privacy violations, but first, they need to speak with people who may have been affected.

Did you download Onavo Protect on your smartphone and use the VPN service with the Snapchat, Amazon or YouTube apps? If you also have a Facebook account, fill out the form on this page. You may be able to help get a class action lawsuit started.

How Could Facebook Have Used Onavo to Spy on People?

According to recently unsealed court documents from an ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Meta, the social media giant began in 2016 using Onavo Protect to collect and decrypt data about users’ habits on Snapchat. Facebook then used this information to inform its “competitive decision-making,” one document claims.

This initiative—supposedly coined “Project Ghostbusters” as a nod to Snapchat’s ghost logo—was said to be launched at the request of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who allegedly wrote in a 2016 email that it was “important to figure out a new way to get reliable analytics” about Snapchat, given how fast the messaging app was growing at the time.

Facebook later expanded the program to intercept users’ interactions with the YouTube and Amazon apps, the filing alleges.

The document claims that the program, which ran from June 2016 to approximately May 2019, used an approach known as a “man-in-the-middle” cyberattack to read what would have otherwise been private, encrypted traffic to its competitors’ apps.

Attorneys believe Facebook’s suspected data-collection practices may have violated certain wiretapping laws, which prohibit the interception of an individual’s electronic communications without proper consent. 

How Could a Lawsuit Help?

A class action lawsuit, if filed and successful, could help compensate former Onavo Protect users affected by Facebook’s suspected data-collection practices. It also has the potential to ensure that the company handles consumers’ data appropriately moving forward. 

If you’re a Facebook user who downloaded Onavo Protect on your smartphone and employed the VPN service while using the apps for Snapchat, Amazon or YouTube, fill out the form on this page. An attorney or legal representative may then reach out to you directly to help answer your questions and explain how you can help the investigation.

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