A former Meta employee is under criminal investigation on suspicion of downloading approximately 30,000 private Facebook images while working for the company. The Metropolitan Police's cybercrime unit is leading the probe into the alleged privacy breach.
According to court papers, the suspect, who lives in London, is believed to have designed a program to access the images while bypassing Meta's internal security checks. He was sacked after the company discovered the breach over a year ago and referred the matter to UK police.
Meta confirmed that affected Facebook users have been notified and that security systems have been upgraded. The suspect is on police bail and must report to officers in May, as well as inform the force of any foreign travel plans.
Data protection expert Jon Baines of Mishcon de Reya noted that while the employee may face charges under data protection and computer misuse laws, Meta could be liable if found to have inadequate security measures. The Information Commissioner's Office said it is aware of the incident and emphasised that social media users should trust their personal information is handled responsibly.
