Facebook’s ‘Ghostbusters’ Project Exposed: The Dark Side of Market Analysis

New court documents have revealed that Facebook sought to gain a competitive edge over Snapchat through a secretive project called ‘Ghostbusters’. In 2016, Meta (formerly Facebook) utilized its Onavo virtual private network (VPN) service, acquired three years prior, to access encrypted data and traffic from Snapchat users. This information was previously reported by The Wall Street Journal in 2017, with Meta defending its use of the VPN for market analysis, citing it was disclosed in Onavo’s policies.

However, new documents have shed light on the true purpose of the project. Dubbed the ‘Ghostbusters Project’, Meta/Facebook utilized Onavo to conduct this analysis by intercepting encrypted traffic in a technique known as ‘man in the middle’. The project initially focused on accessing Snapchat data but later expanded to include YouTube and Amazon as well. This internal project, carried out between 2016 and 2019, reveals Facebook’s efforts to spy on users of competing apps in their quest for market dominance.

The collective lawsuit filed by Sarah Grabert and Maximilian Klein against Meta/Facebook in 2020 alleges that the company exploited user data deceptively and engaged in anti-competitive practices through the use of Onavo. The ongoing litigation in the Federal Court of California continues to shed new light on this controversial topic.