Meta Employee Accused of Uploading Thousands of Private Facebook Photos, Investigation Ongoing
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- Ex-Meta engineer allegedly downloaded thousands of Facebook photos without permission
- Investigation focuses on unauthorized access to user data
British police are investigating a former engineer at Meta who is suspected of downloading around 30,000 private Facebook images without authorization.
The London-based man is believed to have created a program that allowed him to access private photos while bypassing the platform’s security systems.
A Meta spokesperson said the breach was discovered over a year ago, and the company immediately fired the employee and "referred the matter to legal authorities."
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the man, in his 30s, was arrested in November 2025 on suspicion of unauthorized access to computer data. He has since been released on bail and is required to report back to the police in May.
The investigation is being conducted under the supervision of the Metropolitan Police Cybercrime Unit, following a referral from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Meta also stated that it informed the affected Facebook users whose images were improperly accessed and has since strengthened its security systems.
This incident is part of a series of recent security issues faced by Facebook’s parent company. In November 2022, the Irish Data Protection Commission fined Meta €265 million (approximately $288 million) after personal data from hundreds of millions of users was leaked online.
In September 2024, the commission found that Meta had stored some users’ passwords on internal systems without encryption and fined the company €91 million (around $99 million).
Meta, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, has faced legal challenges over the addictive design of its apps. In March, a jury in California ruled that both Meta and Google, owner of YouTube, had deliberately designed social media platforms in ways that harmed the mental health of a young woman known as Kaley, awarding her $6 million in damages.
Both companies announced that they intend to appeal the ruling.