(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A tech entrepreneur’s viral thread about corporate espionage using Israeli software went viral Friday after catching the attention of Elon Musk and other prominent social-media influencers.
The thread suggested, among other things, that Facebook may have hacked into the encryption software of rival Snapchat in order to gain insights from its user data.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2025
Alex Vacca, the founder and chief operating officer of ColdIQ, said that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg used the VPN app Onavo to spy on user habits before making the decision to acquire the popular messaging app WhatsApp.
A VPN, or very private network, is normally understood to provide an extra layer of online privacy by routing web activity through an anonymous server. But by routing it instead through Facebook’s servers, Zuckerberg turned it into a surveillance tool.
According to Vacca, this gave the social-media giant access to metadata including:
• Every app you opened
• How long you used it
• Which websites you visited
• What time you used each app
What did this mean for Facebook?
It meant that Zuck could see exactly which one of Facebook's competitor was growing popular among people.
Look how Facebook was tracking these apps (revealed in the court later): pic.twitter.com/L780CFL0KJ
— Alex Vacca (@itsalexvacca) July 31, 2025
In February 2014, Facebook purchased WhatsApp in a blockbuster $19 billion deal.
“No one in the history of the world has ever done something like this,” Zuckerberg said at the time in a press conference announcing the acquisition.
The move also drew the attention of antitrust watchdogs following the company’s $1 billion purchase of Instagram in 2012.
That gave the company four of the top seven social-media platforms at the time. But according to Vacca, that wasn’t enough. The company also had its eye on Snapchat, which was growing increasingly popular, particularly with younger users, due to its privacy features.
Zuckerberg attempted a $3 billion acquisition of Snapchat in 2013, but the company’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, rejected the offer.
The photo-based app allows users to send photos that are immediately deleted after viewing, reducing the risk of a negative online footprint while also giving its users a false sense of security.
Snapchat’s encryption features initially prevented Facebook from spying through its VPN. However, Zuckerberg tasked his engineers with building “kits” that would embed into users’ mobile devices and intercept the Snapchat traffic prior to encryption, Vacca said.
Facebook's started "Project Ghostbusters" – named after Snapchat's ghost logo.
They would use "man-in-the-middle" attacks to break Snapchat's encryption.
Within a month, Facebook's engineers built "kits" that could intercept Snapchat's data before it got encrypted. pic.twitter.com/MVgl1qNFU5
— Alex Vacca (@itsalexvacca) July 31, 2025
Facebook also used the VPN to spy on other popular platforms, including Houseparty, YouTube and Amazon, giving it a competitive edge and the ability to develop new features mirroring those of its rivals.
Vacca’s thread rekindled outrage against Facebook and Zuckerberg (who notoriously contributed nearly $400 million to swing the 2020 election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden through the dubious use of nonprofits).
Conservative activist Laura Loomer called it “the most evil social media company to ever exist.”
Facebook is the most evil social media company to ever exist.
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) August 1, 2025
Kyle Becker, a prominent X influencer and former Headline USA contributor, referred to the site as “Fascistbook.”
This is why I call it Fascistbook
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 1, 2025
Both Snapchat and Facebook have come under fire for a litany of privacy and online safety concerns. An explosive legal complaint filed in September 2024 by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez alleged that, despite its supposed safety guardrails, Snapchat had been a conduit for “rampant” sextortion of minors.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/realbensellers.
