  We show that the group of homotopy automorphisms of the profinite completion
of the genus zero surface operad is isomorphic to the (profinite)
Grothendieck-Teichm\"{u}ller group. Using a result of Drummond-Cole, we deduce
that the Grothendieck-Teichm\"{u}ller group acts nontrivially on
$\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{0,\bullet+1}$, the operad of stable curves of genus
zero. As a second application, we give an alternative proof that the framed
little 2-disks operad is formal.
