UK Probes Ex-Meta Engineer for Stealing 30,000 Private Facebook Photos

A former Meta engineer in London faces a criminal investigation after allegedly downloading around 30,000 private images from Facebook users' accounts by creating a script that evaded the company's internal security measures. The breach, which occurred more than a year ago, came to light through an inquiry by the Metropolitan Police's Cybercrime Unit, leading to the man's arrest in November 2025. He was released on bail and is required to report back to authorities in May 2026.

According to court documents, the engineer, who worked at Meta's London office, exploited his privileged access to develop the program. This allowed him to extract personal photographs that users had set to private, without triggering detection systems designed to monitor employee activity. The incident was uncovered during an internal review by Meta, prompting swift action from the company. Officials terminated the employee's position, notified the affected users, and enhanced security protocols to prevent similar unauthorized access. Meta also referred the matter to law enforcement, including coordination with the FBI before the case reached UK authorities.

A Meta spokesperson stated, "Protecting user...