Apple removes Facebook's Onavo security app from the App Store

Onavo

Onavo, Inc. was an Israeli mobile web analytics company that was purchased by Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms), who changed the company's name to Facebook Israel.[1] The company primarily performed its activities via consumer mobile apps, including the virtual private network (VPN) service Onavo Protect, which analysed web traffic sent through the VPN to provide statistics on the usage of other apps.

Facebook will shut down its spyware VPN app Onavo | TechCrunch

Facebook will end its unpaid market research programs and proactively take its Onavo VPN app off the Google Play store in the wake of backlash following

Apple revokes Facebook’s developer certificate over data-snooping app—Google could be next

Both bypassed the App Store to distribute their data-collection apps to users.

Apple bans Facebook's Research app that paid users for data | TechCrunch

In the wake of TechCrunch's investigation yesterday, Apple blocked Facebook's Research VPN app before the social network could voluntarily shut it down.

Apple vs. Facebook is Kayfabe - Infrequently Noted

Apple vs. Facebook is, and always was, kayfabe. In reality, Apple is Facebook's chauffeur; holding Zuck's coat while Facebook wantonly surveils iPhones owners. How can we be sure? Because Apple continues to allow wide-scale abuse of In-App Browsers.

Once Again, Facebook Is Using Privacy As A Sword To Kill Independent

Facebook claims that their role as guardian of users’ privacy gives them the power to shut down apps that give users more control over their own social media experience. Facebook is wrong. The latest

Criticism of Facebook

Facebook (and parent company Meta Platforms) has been the subject of criticism and legal action since it was founded in 2004.[1] Criticisms include the outsize influence Facebook has on the lives and health of its users and employees, as well as Facebook's influence on the way media, specifically news, is reported and distributed. Notable issues include Internet privacy, such as use of a widespread "like" button on third-party websites tracking users,[2][3] possible indefinite records of user information,[4] automatic facial recognition software,[5][6] and its role in the workplace, including employer-employee account disclosure.[7] The use of Facebook can have negative psychological and physiological effects[8] that include feelings of sexual jealousy,[9][10] stress,[11][12] lack of attention,[13] and social media addiction that in some cases is comparable to drug addiction.[14][15]

Censorship by Facebook

Facebook has been involved in multiple controversies involving censorship of content, removing or omitting information from its services in order to comply with company policies, legal demands, and government censorship laws.

The Facebook Files

Facebook knows, in acute detail, that its platforms are riddled with flaws but hasn’t fixed them. That’s a key finding of a Journal series that launched this week, based on an array of internal company documents. Read all the stories here.

Facebook is building its own Steam-style desktop gaming platform with Unity | TechCrunch

Facebook may try to compete with Steam, or at least win back revenue lost when casual gaming shifted to mobile. Today Facebook formally announced it's

It’s time for third-party data brokers to emerge from the shadows

Facebook announced last week it would discontinue the partner programs that allow advertisers to use third-party data from companies such as Acxiom, Experian and Quantium to target users.

Facebook's Big Move Toward the AfterWeb

Blow up your browser! The Next Big Thing is the AfterWeb. Facebook made a monumental announcement Monday that seemed as though it was designed to...

Facebook's alleged use of APIs to crush competition is a warning to other data companies

Forget Instagram and WhatsApp. The real villains in the FTC lawsuit are Facebook's abuse of data and APIs.

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them | TechCrunch

Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook has been secretly paying people to install a "Facebook Research" VPN that lets the company suck in all of