Facebook is taking action against those who abuse its platform with a pair of new lawsuits.
On Thursday, the social network announced that it filed two separate lawsuits against developers for violating the company’s terms of service. The lawsuits show that Facebook is trying to send a clear message to companies that abuse its platform.
Facebook first filed a lawsuit against MobiBurn, a targeted marketing company, after it failed to comply with Facebook’s audit request. Facebook alleges that it caught the company collecting user data from Facebook by paying app developers to install a malicious software development kit (SDK) in the app.
In November, Facebook confirmed that millions of users were affected by MobiBurn’s SDK, which compromised personal information like names, email addresses, time zone, and gender. Although Facebook sent a cease-and-desist letter to the company, MobiBurn ignored it.
“Security researchers first flagged MobiBurn’s behavior to us as part of our data abuse bounty program. We then took enforcement action, including disabling apps, sending a cease-and- desist letter, and requesting MobiBurn’s participation in an audit, as required by our policies. MobiBurn failed to fully cooperate,” Jessica Romero, director of platform enforcement and litigation at Facebook, wrote in a blog post.
Facebook also announced a separate lawsuit against Nikolay Holper, who was operating an alleged fake engagement service known as Nakrutka to sell fake likes, comments, views, and followers on Instagram. Facebook said Hopler also did not comply with its cease-and-desist letter.
Digital Trends reached out to MobiBurn to comment on the lawsuit. We will update this story when we hear back.
While Facebook is usually on the other side of lawsuits, the social network did sue the domain name registrar company Namecheap in March for allowing people to register domain names that infringed on Facebook’s trademarks.
Instagram is testing a new format for long-form videos called Features. It allows select creators to upload horizontal videos running up to 90 minutes long. Instagram has already tested the new format with creators in Brazil, and now, it's expanding to tens of thousands of creators across the US.
How will Instagram's new Features format work?
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
I have lost count of how many times I have gone to bed thinking I will finally sleep on time, only to somehow end up scrolling Instagram or X again. A few minutes turn into an hour, then another, and before I notice, it is 2 or 3 a.m. The next morning, I am usually annoyed with myself because I could have just slept and felt considerably better for the day ahead.
It is also a surprisingly hard habit to beat. Knowing you should put the phone down does not always help once it is already in your hand. Brick Night is a new gadget built around that exact problem. Instead of relying on you to remember to turn on an app blocker, it automatically restricts selected apps and websites when your phone enters your chosen sleep space during the hours you set.