Ex-Facebook Employee Investigated for Downloading 30,000 Private Photos

A former Meta employee is under criminal investigation after allegedly downloading around 30,000 private photographs from Facebook while working at the company.

The engineer was employed by the social media giant when he reportedly designed a software program that could access personal photos on Facebook while avoiding security checks. He is suspected of downloading huge numbers of private photographs of Facebook users during this time.

According to court papers, the Metropolitan police in London, U.K., say he “is alleged to have accessed and downloaded approximately 30,000 private images belonging to Facebook users whilst working for Meta”.

“It is alleged that he created a script designed to circumvent Meta’s internal detection systems, allowing him to do so.”

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police says a man in his 30s was arrested in November 2025 on suspicion of unauthorized access to computer material. A specialist detective from the force’s cybercrime unit is investigating the alleged large-scale breach of users’ privacy. The former Meta worker has since been released on bail and is due to report back to the police in May.

Meta says the suspected breach was identified more than a year ago and that the company referred the case to law enforcement. The company adds that affected Facebook users were notified, the employee was dismissed, and its security systems were strengthened.

“Protecting user data is our top priority,” a Meta spokesperson says in a statement. “After discovering improper access by an employee over a year ago, we immediately terminated the individual, notified users, referred the matter to law enforcement, and enhanced our security measures.

“We are cooperating with the ongoing investigation.”

This latest incident comes after an investigation last month alleged that footage taken on Meta’s AI smart glasses is being watched by tech workers, including intimate moments. Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten reported that some footage recorded by the glasses is reviewed by contractors in Nairobi, Kenya.

The workers, employed by Sama as data annotators, label images and videos to help train Meta’s artificial intelligence systems. Several contractors told the newspapers they had viewed highly personal material.

“In some videos you can see someone going to the toilet, or getting undressed,” one contractor says. “I don’t think they know, because if they knew they wouldn’t be recording.”

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.