Meta Ousts Unscrupulous Employees, Security Guards For Accepting Bribes To Help Users

Meta Platforms, Inc META has fired or disciplined more than two dozen employees and contractors over the last year whom it accused of improperly taking over user accounts, in some cases allegedly for bribes, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Some of those fired were contractors who worked as security guards stationed at Meta facilities and had access to the Facebook parent’s internal mechanism for employees to help users having trouble with their accounts.
The mechanism, known internally as “Oops,” has existed since Facebook’s early years as a means for employees to help users they know who have forgotten their passwords or emails or had their accounts taken over by hackers.
As part of the alleged system abuse, Meta said that in some cases, workers accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from outside hackers to access user accounts.
The disciplinary actions are part of a lengthy internal probe led by Meta executives.
Oops, an acronym for Online Operations is supposed to be pretty limited to exceptional cases, like friends, family, business partners, and public figures.
Still, its usage has climbed along with the employee headcount. In 2020, the channel serviced about 50,270 tasks, up from 22,000 three years earlier.
Stolen Facebook and Instagram handles can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars on other online forums as too many people depend on social media for their businesses or to manage critically essential aspects of their lives.
But in part, because the Oops system is off limits to the vast majority of Facebook users, a cottage industry of intermediaries has developed who charge users money to regain control of their accounts.
Price Action: META shares traded lower by 1.47% at $111.52 on the last check Thursday.
Image by Chetraruc from Pixabay

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