Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Jun 26, 2025

Facebook accused of secretly saving deleted Messenger data and sharing it with police

Facebook accused of secretly saving deleted Messenger data and sharing it with police

In response to the legal filing, Facebook's parent company Meta said the "claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves against them vigorously".

Meta has been accused of secretly keeping users' deleted Messenger data and sharing it with police by a former employee.

Brennan Lawson, who worked for the social media company after leaving the US Air Force, has filed a legal complaint alleging that Facebook created a tool to access Messenger data that users thought they had deleted.

Lawson, who is suing the company for whistleblower retaliation, alleges he was fired after raising concerns about the tool's legality.

In a filing made to the Superior Court of California in the County of San Mateo, Lawson said he worked for Meta, Facebook's parent company, as a senior risk and response escalations specialist.

"The role required he view extreme content such as beheadings, child rape, and other ruthless and brutal displays of violence or obscenity," the filing states.

Lawson alleges that Meta, founded by Mark Zuckerberg, did not properly protect his mental health, which was affected by his exposure to this content. He is seeking $3m in compensation alongside punitive damages.

'Fired for whistleblowing'


Lawson claims to have attended a meeting in late 2018 "where a Facebook manager introduced a new tool to the escalations team".

The filing claims: "Unlike other meetings, there were no materials distributed beforehand for attendees to review.

"This is because, unlike other meetings, Facebook was teaching employees how to utilise a tool that allowed them to circumvent Facebook's normal privacy protocols in order to access user-deleted data.

"This back-end protocol allowed [Lawson's] team to retrieve data in Messenger that users had chosen to delete. Facebook represented to its users that once data was deleted, it was not stored locally and could not be accessed. Not so."

This tool was used by Facebook to ingratiate itself with law enforcement, according to Lawson's claims.

"Law enforcement would ask questions about the suspect's use of the platform, such as who the suspect was messaging, when messages were sent, and even what those messages contained," the legal filing states.

"To keep Facebook in the good graces of the government, the Escalations Team would utilise the back-end protocol to provide answers for the law enforcement agency and then determine how much to share."

Lawson claims to have spoken up during the meeting because he knew it was contrary to Meta's commitments to US regulators about user privacy, and unlawful under data protection regulations in the EU and UK.

He said he subsequently received a critical rating in his performance review and then lost his job - officially for improperly using Facebook's administrator tools to check on his grandmother's account, which she claimed was hacked - as a pretext to firing him because of his whistleblowing.

Meta told Sky News: "These claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves against them vigorously."

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Russian Shadow Payments via Cryptocurrency Reach $9 Billion
Explosions Rock Doha as Iranian Missiles Target Qatar
“You Have 12 Hours to Flee”: Israeli Threat Campaign Targets Surviving Iranian Officials
Macron and Merz: Europe must arm itself in an unstable world
Germany and Italy Under Pressure to Repatriate $245bn of Gold from US Vaults
Airlines Evaluate Flight Cancellations Amid Escalating US-Iran Tensions
Starmer Invites Innovators to Join Government Talent Scheme
UK Economy’s Strong Opening Quarter Shows Signs of Cooling
Harrods Seeks Court Order to Secure Al Fayed Estate for Victims
BA and Singapore Airlines Cancel Dubai Flights Amid Middle East Tensions
Trump Faces Backlash from MAGA Base Over Iran Strikes
Meta Bets $14 B on Alexandr Wang to Drive AI Ambitions
WATCH: Israeli forces show the aftermath of a massive airstrike at Iran's Isfahan nuclear site
FedEx Founder Fred Smith, ‘Heart and Soul’ of the Company, Dies at 80
Chinese Factories Shift Away from U.S. Amid Trump‑Era Tariffs
Pimco Seizes Opportunity in Japan’s Dislocated Bond Market
Labubu Doll Drives Pop Mart to Status as China’s Most Valuable Toy Maker
Global Coal Demand Defies Paris Accord Goals
We have new information and breaking details to share about what is shaping up to be a historic air campaign tonight
Six Massive Bombs Dropped on Fordow; Trump: 'A Historic Moment for the U.S., Israel, and the World'
Fordow: Deeply Buried Iranian Enrichment Site in U.S.–Israel Crosshairs
United States Conducts Precision Strikes on Iran’s Nuclear Sites
US strikes Iran nuclear sites, Trump says
Pakistan to nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC Demands Perplexity AI Immediately Stop Using Its Content
Telegram Founder: I Will Leave My Fortune to Over 100 of My Children
Political Turmoil Resurfaces in Belgium Amid Economic Concerns
Fed policymakers divided on timing of interest rate cuts
Trump signals imminent agreement with Harvard University
Inheritance tax referendum alarms Swiss billionaire community
Japan cancels bilateral security meeting amid US defence demands
AI skeptic Emily Bender warns that ‘the emperor has no clothes’
Israel Confirms Assassination of Quds Force Commander in Tehran
16 Billion Login Credentials Leaked in Unprecedented Cybersecurity Breach
Senate hearing on who was 'really running' Biden White House kicks off
Iranian Military Officers Reportedly Seek Contact with Reza Pahlavi, Signal Intent to Defect
FBI and Senate Investigate Allegations of Chinese Plot to Influence the 2020 Election in Biden’s Favor Using Fake U.S. Driver’s Licenses
Vietnam Emerges as Luxury Yacht Destination for Ultra‑Rich
Plans to Sell Dutch Embassy in Bangkok Face Local Opposition
China's Iranian Oil Imports Face Disruption Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions
Trump's $5 Million 'Trump Card' Visa Program Draws Nearly 70,000 Applicants
DGCA Finds No Major Safety Concerns in Air India's Boeing 787 Fleet
Airlines Reroute Flights Amid Expanding Middle East Conflict Zones
Elon Musk's xAI Seeks $9.3 Billion in Funding Amid AI Expansion
Trump Demands Iran's Unconditional Surrender Amid Escalating Conflict
Israeli Airstrike Targets Iranian State TV in Central Tehran
President Trump is leaving the G7 summit early and has ordered the National Security Council to the Situation Room
Taiwan Imposes Export Ban on Chips to Huawei and SMIC
Israel has just announced plans to strike Tehran again, and in response, Trump has urged people to evacuate
Netanyahu Signals Potential Regime Change in Iran
×