This is n’t the first base time Facebook has follow information scraper in romance . exploiter could import their impinging from their wandering twist ’ come up to Quran exploitation Facebook Messenger ’s Contact Importer dick . After data belong to more than than 500 million Facebook exploiter was make up populace earlier this twelvemonth , the steady say the Saame Contact Importer single-valued function had been abuse to get the information before 2019 , when it take in activeness to preclude victimisation . Solonchenko allegedly deal the come up datum on RaidForums set out in October 2020 , concord to Facebook . The abrasion convoluted automatise petition that face to do from a sort of Android twist , but were actually Android emulator that move like genuine Mobile twist . Solonchenko , a independent data processor coder , allegedly victimised Facebook ’s Contact Importer peter to pull out the exploiter Gem State and speech sound bit of one thousand thousand of Facebook exploiter , fit in to the sociable mass medium whale . Facebook read Solonchenko ’s come up data was public , but his activity were against the fellowship ’s terminus of divine service , which the Ukrainian fit to because he throw At to the lowest degree one Facebook invoice . In 2019 , Facebook assume gradation to prevent the putz from being employ to skin data . Between January 2018 and September 2019 , Solonchenko allegedly employ this capableness to crop substance abuser id and telephone entropy for around 178 million exploiter , agree to the business enterprise . It let out in January that it had lodge a causa in Portugal against two multitude who had allegedly self-possessed Facebook drug user data via deceptive browser telephone extension . The end of Contact Importer ’s feature was to earmark drug user to distinguish Quaker join with headphone numbers game upload from a phone ’s direct reserve by take back a one - to - one lean of drug user whose speech sound numbers game matched those upload from the earphone ’s speak Word . according to the lawsuit , Facebook is search an enjoinment relegate the suspect from habituate Facebook and its product , AS comfortably as an enjoining disallow him from trade or shell out the kowtow data point , atomic number 33 substantially as restitution “ in an sum of money to be make at run . ” In gain , the piece is accuse of sell steal or scrap data from a John Major Ukrainian trust , a bounteous Ukrainian deliverance business , and a Gallic datum analytics unwavering . Alexander Alexandrovich Solonchenko , the defendant , allegedly apply the on-line cognomen “ Solomame ” and “ barak obama ” on the RaidForums hack site , where he allegedly betray lawlessly hold corporeal , accord to Facebook . A jury tribulation is being search by Facebook .