Facebook Inc. said on Wednesday it had blocked a group of hackers in China who used the platform to target Uyghurs living abroad with links to malware that would infect their devices and enable surveillance.
The social media company said the hackers, known as Earth Empusa or Evil Eye in the security industry, targeted activists, journalists and dissidents who were predominantly Uyghurs, a largely Muslim ethnic group facing persecution in China.
Facebook said there were fewer than 500 targets, who were largely from the Xinjiang region but were primarily living abroad in countries including Turkey, Kazakhstan, the United States, Syria, Australia and Canada.