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Meta’s Project Ghostbusters: How Facebook Turned a “VPN” Into a Legalized Man-in-the-Middle Attack
Imagine if you set up a fake VPN, tricked people into installing it, then secretly intercepted and decrypted their private internet traffic to spy on their activity. You’d get arrested. You’d be facing computer crime charges, wiretap violations, and probably a lifetime ban from touching anything with a microchip.
But when Facebook — now Meta — did it?
Nothing happened.
The Dirty Playbook
Back in 2013, Facebook bought a VPN-like app called Onavo. On paper, it was marketed as a “privacy tool” that would “keep your data safe.” In reality, it became the perfect surveillance pipeline.
Court documents now reveal that in 2016, Meta launched Project Ghostbusters — a program designed to intercept encrypted traffic between its users and competing platforms like Snapchat, YouTube, and Amazon.
How? By turning Onavo into a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack.
Users were told to install Onavo.
Installing it also meant installing a root certificate that allowed Facebook to decrypt traffic.
All data — every click, every message, every interaction — flowed through Facebook-controlled servers.
Even though services like Snapchat were encrypted, the metadata (and in some cases decrypted content) was now visible to Meta.
This wasn’t some passive “analytics” — it was an active interception of encrypted communications.
Why This Is a Big Deal
If an average person pulled this stunt, they’d be prosecuted under laws like the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It’s textbook cybercrime behavior:
Interception of communications? Illegal.
Bypassing encryption? Illegal.
Misrepresentation of a privacy tool to gain access? Illegal.
Yet Facebook faced zero criminal charges. No executives in handcuffs. No FBI raid. Just another day in Silicon Valley.
The Goal Wasn’t Security — It Was Espionage
This wasn’t about “improving the product.” This was about competitive intelligence.
Mark Zuckerberg allegedly wanted detailed insights into how people were using Snapchat so Facebook could outmaneuver them. By siphoning traffic data, Meta could see what users did inside a rival’s app without that rival knowing.
It’s corporate spying at the packet level.
The Big VPN Lesson
The punchline? Millions of people still blindly trust random VPN services with their data. Most VPN ads push the same emotional button: “Protect yourself from hackers.” What they don’t say is that you’re just shifting your trust from one potential spy (the coffee shop Wi-Fi) to another (the VPN provider).
Meta’s case proves that VPNs can be the fox guarding the henhouse. When the fox is a trillion-dollar corporation, the henhouse is the internet itself.
If you really want privacy:
Run your own VPN.
Use open-source, audited tools.
Understand that a VPN provider can see your metadata and sometimes more.
Remember: If it’s free, you’re the product.
Why There Were No Consequences
Here’s the ugly truth — in the U.S., tech giants get away with things that would destroy anyone else’s life. They have:
Lobbyists
Legal firepower
Friendly regulators
The ability to drag out court cases until public outrage dies
Meanwhile, you try pulling the same trick from your apartment, and you’ll have a SWAT team breaking down your door by sunrise.
Bottom line: Project Ghostbusters was a corporate MITM attack masquerading as a privacy tool. If that doesn’t convince you to think twice about who you let route your traffic, nothing will.
