Documents show Meta paid for data scraping despite years of denouncing it

meta on a daily basis fought a data scraperbut also participated in the practice itself, if not necessarily for the same reason. bloomberg have obtained Legal documents in the Meta lawsuit against prime contractor Bright Data, showing Facebook owners paid partners to scrape other websites.Meta spokesperson Andy Stone confirmed the relationship in a discussion with bloombergbut said his company uses Bright Data to build brand profiles, identify “harmful” sites, catch phishing campaigns, and never target competitors.

Stone added that data scraping can serve “legitimate integrity and commercial purposes” as long as it’s done legally and respects the site’s terms of service. Meta terminated its contract with Bright Data after the contractor allegedly violated the company’s terms in collecting and selling data from his Facebook and Instagram.

Neither Bright Data nor Meta disclosed which sites were scraped. Bright Data has counterclaimed Meta to continue scraping Facebook and Instagram, claiming it only collects publicly available information and respects both European Union and US regulations.

Meta has spent years sue an individual and enterprise For scraping the platform without permission. In some cases, companies are accusing them of hiding their activity and accessing sensitive information that requires a login. Last year, for example, Meta sued Octopus over a tool that allegedly harvested sign-ins and harvested personal information such as birth dates and phone numbers.

But Bright Data’s revelation isn’t good for the company, which faces numerous privacy-infringement accusations, including those linked to scrapers.EU €265 million fine for Meta (approximately $277 million) was accused last fall of failing to protect Facebook users from scraping, which harvests and exposes personal information. This latest case may not cause more problems, but it certainly does not help Meta’s defense.