from Hacker News

Facebook sues programmer who allegedly scraped data for 178M users

by frb on 10/23/21, 7:36 PM with 1 comments

• by breckenedge on 10/23/21, 7:50 PM

  > Solonchenko reportedly exploited Messenger's contact import feature by using an automated tool that mimicked Android devices. He fed Facebook millions of phone numbers and gathered data whenever the site returned info on accounts with phone numbers.

  > Facebook asked for undefined damages as well as bans preventing Solonchenko from accessing Facebook or selling its scraped data.

  So he used an Android simulator and a loop to generate phone number to make HTTP GET requests to FB’s unprotected phone number endpoint?