Facebook announced that thousands of users worldwide may have been targets of hacking attempts by private surveillance companies.

Cyber-mercenaries who engage in "surveillance-for-hire" work used the company's tools in an attempt to hack roughly 50,000 users, according to a report released on Thursday by Meta, the parent company for the social media network. Meta said it alerted the users about the cyber-mercenaries, which consisted of surveillance companies that a handful of governments had working relationships with.

"The surveillance industry is much bigger than just one company, and it's much bigger than just malware-for-hire," said Nathaniel Gleicher, the head of security policy at Meta and the co-author of the report.

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Meta's report denies that the malicious spyware targeted drug kingpins, criminals, or pedophiles.

"The targeting we see is indiscriminate. They're targeting journalists. They're targeting politicians. They're targeting human rights defenders. They're also targeting ordinary citizens," Gleicher continued.

The report from Meta found the spy companies used tools such as Facebook and Instagram to research and prepare intended targets for hacking.

The findings mirror those from the Pegasus Project, an investigation into how governments spied on journalists, activists, and political opponents through a spyware tool developed by Israeli surveillance company NSO Group.

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Meta vowed to take swift action against seven companies following the findings, saying it removed around 1,500 fake Facebook accounts, blocked websites intent on sending out malicious spyware, and mailed out cease-and-desist letters.