Beautiful Virgin Islands

Friday, Aug 29, 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
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
Labour set to freeze income tax thresholds in long-term 'stealth' tax raid
Coca‑Cola explores sale of Costa coffee chain
Trial hears dog walker was chased and fatally stabbed by trio
Restaurateur resigns from government hospitality council over tax criticism
Spanish City funfair shut after serious ride injury
Suspected arson at Ilford restaurant leaves three in critical condition
Tottenham beat Manchester City to go top of Premier League
Bank holiday heatwave to hit 30°C before remnants of Hurricane Erin arrive
UK to deploy immigration advisers to West Africa to block fake visas
×