Facebook is a social media and social networking platform that is owned by Meta Platforms, a company based in the United States. The platform was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, along with Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, who were then students and roommates at Harvard College. The name “Facebook” was derived from the directories of student photos and basic information that were traditionally distributed to students at American universities, known as “face books.”

After becoming available, Facebook experienced a rapid growth which persisted until 2018, following which it started to decline. In 2008, the number of registered Facebook users exceeded 100 million and in July 2010, it surpassed 500 million. In June 2017, Facebook reached the milestone of having 2 billion users. As of October 2018, the countries with the highest number of Facebook users were India and the United States, with Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico following closely behind.

Facebook has had to deal with the problem of harmful software, or malware, several times throughout its existence. This has presented challenges not only to the company, but also to the users of the social networking service. The ongoing analysis of malware is a vital aspect of the fight against those who create and distribute it.