In 2013, Meta (then Facebook) bought Israeli tech startup Onavo for $120 million. The company’s app, Onavo Protect, worked as a VPN and promised to help users save data. But it also tracked how people used apps, including those made by Meta’s competitors.
The information gathered by Onavo helped Meta make big decisions. One key example: Meta’s $19 billion purchase of WhatsApp in 2014. Onavo showed that WhatsApp was quickly gaining users, which made Meta act fast.
However, the way Onavo collected data soon caused concern. In 2018, Apple removed the app from its App Store for breaking privacy rules. A year later, Meta shut down Onavo completely after facing more questions from regulators and the public.
The Onavo story shows how Meta used data to grow its business but also highlights the risks of collecting too much user information.
As privacy laws around the world become stricter, the case is often used as an example of what can go wrong when tech companies push the limits of data use.
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