Facebook sued by ACCC over ‘misleading’ ads for Onavo Protect VPN

Facebook is facing another lawsuit, this time accused of misleading consumers with a promise to protect their data when it allegedly collected and exploited it instead.

The consumer watchdog is taking the world’s biggest social media company to court, accusing it and two of its many subsidiaries of misleading advertising for an app that people were told would protect their data.

Onavo Protect was an app from Facebook-owned mobile analytics firm Onavo that provided virtual private networking (VPN).

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleges Facebook misled consumers between February 2016 and October 2017 when it said the app would keep their personal data private, protected and secret, and only use it to provide Onavo Protect’s products.

What the ACCC alleges actually happened is that Facebook used that data for its commercial benefit, including to identify potential targets for acquisition.

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An allegedly misleading advertisement for Onavo Protect.

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The data included things like records of others apps people had used and how long they spent using them.

This information could give the company insight on emerging challengers in the social media space that might attract users away from Facebook or Instagram, which it acquired the year before Onavo.

Facebook bought Onavo in 2013 for around $US120 million ($A158.7 million).

The Wall Street Journal previously reported analytics from the company influenced Facebook’s decision to buy WhatsApp in 2014.

That acquisition is under the microscope in a separate lawsuit Facebook faces in its home country.

“Through Onavo Protect, Facebook was collecting and using the very detailed and valuable personal activity data of thousands of Australian consumers for its own commercial purposes, which we believe is completely contrary to the promise of protection, secrecy and privacy that was central to Facebook’s promotion of this app,” ACCC chair Rod Sims said.

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The app was made Android-only after being removed from Apple's App Store, before being fully discontinued.

Mr Sims added that Facebook promoted the app with claims it would offer privacy and protect users, when in fact it “channelled significant volumes of their personal activity data straight back to Facebook”.

He said the company deprived consumers of the opportunity to make an informed decision about whether to use the app.

The ACCC is seeking declarations and pecuniary penalties.

Onavo Protect was already removed from the Apple App Store in 2018 for failing to comply with its policies, including by collecting information and analytics about other apps installed on a user’s phone.

It was removed from the Google Play Store after Facebook discontinued the product last year.

A Facebook spokesperson told news.com.au the company would “defend” in response.

“When people downloaded Onavo Protect, we were always clear about the information we collect and how it is used.

“We’ve cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation into this matter to date.

“We will review the recent filing by the ACCC and will continue to defend our position in response to this recent filing.”