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Facebook Spied On Conservative Users’ Private Messages, Provided Fed ‘Leads’ To The FBI: REPORT
Daily Caller News Foundation ^ | 09/16/2022 | Gabe Kaminsky

Posted on 09/16/2022 9:03:32 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Facebook reportedly spied on the private messages of “conservative right-wing individuals” and provided redacted data “leads” to the FBI’s domestic terrorism unit, sources familiar with the matter told the New York Post.

The social media giant has collaborated with the FBI for the past 19 months, sources told the Post. Those who have been reported to the bureau are individuals who have questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election as well as expressed “anti-government” or “anti-authority sentiments,” sources told the outlet. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: The FBI Secretly Pressured Americans To Waive Away Their Gun Rights)

“It was done outside the legal process and without probable cause,” a source who spoke on condition of anonymity claimed to the Post. “Facebook provides the FBI with private conversations which are protected by the First Amendment without any subpoena.”

Facebook flagged the messages and sent with them to FBI field offices nationwide without subpoenas, according to the Post. The messages were framed as “leads,” the outlet reported.

Field offices then requested subpoenas from U.S. Attorneys Offices to try to obtain the messages through Facebook they already reviewed, the outlet alleged. FBI agents in field offices investigated Facebook users in their offices and occasionally by means of “covert surveillance techniques,” sources told the Post.

“They were gun-toting, red-blooded Americans [who were] angry after the election and shooting off their mouths and talking about staging protests,” another source told the Post, describing the individuals allegedly targeted by Facebook. “There was nothing criminal, nothing about violence or massacring or assassinating anyone.”

The FBI told the Post it can neither confirm nor deny the allegations from sources.

“The FBI maintains relationships with U.S. private sector entities, including social media providers,” a bureau spokesperson told the outlet. The FBI has provided companies with foreign threat indicators to help them protect their platforms and customers from abuse by foreign malign influence actors.”

A Facebook spokeswoman first told the Post the allegations are “false” and “reflect a misunderstanding of how our systems protect people from harm and how we engage with law enforcement.” However, the spokeswoman then told the Post the allegations are not “false” but rather “wrong.”

“The suggestion we seek out peoples’ private messages for anti-government language or questions about the validity of past elections and then proactively supply those to the FBI is plainly inaccurate and there is zero evidence to support it,” said the spokeswoman.

The FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Facebook pointed the DCNF to a statement Meta spokesman Andy Stone posted on Twitter about the Post’s report.

“These claims are just wrong,” said the spokesman. “The suggestion we seek out peoples’ private messages for anti-government language or questions about the validity of past elections and then proactively supply those to the FBI is plainly inaccurate and there is zero evidence to support it.”


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 1984; 1moretime; conservatives; facebook; fbi; jbts; policestate; spying
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1 posted on 09/16/2022 9:03:32 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
New York Post's Miranda Devine writes, "Under the FBI collaboration operation, somebody at Facebook red-flagged these supposedly subversive private messages over the past 19 months and transmitted them in redacted form to the domestic terrorism operational unit at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, without a subpoena."

"It was done outside the legal process and without probable cause," said one of the whistleblowers, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Facebook provides the FBI with private conversations which are protected by the First Amendment without any subpoena."

According to one Post source, "They [Facebook and the FBI] were looking for conservative right-wing individuals. None were Antifa types."

The Facebook users whose private communications Facebook had red-flagged as domestic terrorism for the FBI were all “conservative right-wing individuals.”

“They were gun-toting, red-blooded Americans [who were] angry after the election and shooting off their mouths and talking about staging protests. There was nothing criminal, nothing about violence or massacring or assassinating anyone.

...

Some of the targeted Americans had posted photos of themselves “shooting guns together and bitching about what’s happened [after the 2020 election]. A few were members of a militia but that was protected by the Second Amendment …-NY Post

Once flagged, the private messages were farmed out as "leads" to FBI field offices around the country, which would then reach out to that area's US Attorney's Office to legally obtain the private conversations they had already been shown.

"As soon as a subpoena was requested, within an hour, Facebook sent back gigabytes of data and photos. It was ready to go. They were just waiting for that legal process so they could send it," said one source.

That said, the feds aren't finding much to prosecute.

"It was a waste of our time," said one source familiar with the 19-month 'frenzy' by the FBI to find domestic terrorism cases to match the Biden administration's rhetoric after the Jan. 6 2021, Capitol riot.

Facebook has denied the allegations in two contrasting statements sent one hour apart.

"These claims are false because they reflect a misunderstanding of how our systems protect people from harm and how we engage with law enforcement. We carefully scrutinize all government requests for user information to make sure they’re legally valid and narrowly tailored and we often push back. We respond to legal requests for information in accordance with applicable law and our terms and we provide notice to users whenever permitted," said Erica Sackin, a spokesperson at Facebook’s parent company, Meta.

2 posted on 09/16/2022 9:05:46 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

If fools use fake book and expect privacy then their naivety will be rewarded by the FBI.


3 posted on 09/16/2022 9:19:17 PM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy - EVs a solution for which there is no problem)
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To: SeekAndFind

When I was younger, people feared the government becoming Big Brother. Instead, corporate America became that, and they give the government whatever information it wants about everyone. I never saw the point of Facebook, or whatever its main competitor used to be. I didn’t want to lose my privacy.


4 posted on 09/16/2022 9:33:31 PM PDT by Dr. Franklin ("A republic, if you can keep it." )
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To: SeekAndFind

Bkmk.


5 posted on 09/16/2022 9:34:42 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono
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To: SeekAndFind

Connections, Facebook Spies on Private Messages and DHS Uses Private Chats Against J6 Detainees

09/15/2022 4:26:03 PM PDT · by MtnClimber · 21 replies
The Conservative Treehouse ^ | 15 Sep, 2022 | sundance

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4093711/posts

Facebook spied on private messages of Americans who questioned 2020 election

09/15/2022 8:53:52 AM PDT · by Tench_Coxe · 28 replies
New York Post ^ | 9/14/2022 | Miranda Devine

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4093602/posts


6 posted on 09/16/2022 9:42:21 PM PDT by Paal Gulli
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To: SeekAndFind

So go to the library & do some research on encryption not the computer generated variety but doing it by hand this can be done & if done correctly will big brother serious heartburn


7 posted on 09/16/2022 9:46:31 PM PDT by Nebr FAL owner (Treason is the reason for Democrat Sedition & Subversion)
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To: SeekAndFind
“The FBI maintains relationships with U.S. private sector entities, including social media providers,” a bureau spokesperson told the outlet.

Private?

Pull the other one sugar butt, it has bells on it.

8 posted on 09/16/2022 10:18:52 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: SeekAndFind

Facebook is now known as “Fascist Book” to its’ friends at the FBI, aka The New Stassi.

Not all FBI agents are corrupted but enough in its leadership and field offices are. That is the threat to us.

Let’s just say that some of my friends were good FBI agents and higher up the food chain! On occasion, my depended on them being the best. I had a great respect for their professionalism.


9 posted on 09/17/2022 1:22:38 AM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper (Figures )
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To: Paal Gulli

Bkmk


10 posted on 09/17/2022 2:04:38 AM PDT by kelly4c
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To: SeekAndFind

They deserve the stock shellacking they are getting. They deserve to be hung.

That said, why would anyone willingly use them?


11 posted on 09/17/2022 3:45:33 AM PDT by Adder (ALL Democrats are the enemy. NO QUARTER!!)
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To: SeekAndFind
I've always believed that FB was a secret branch of the NSA with the ability to monitor all email correspondence global wide and data mine anything they wish.

When I created a fake account with one of my email addresses, I would receive notices to hook up with "someone you may know" who has a FB account and who just happened to be in my email address book.

12 posted on 09/17/2022 3:59:56 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Don't walk thru the watermelon patch)
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To: SeekAndFind

Conservative right wing individuals. What about those dastardly Socialist right wing individuals?


13 posted on 09/17/2022 4:15:55 AM PDT by arthurus (covfefe o)
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To: SeekAndFind

The article states that Facebook/FBI font seek out people because of their postings is a joke. They just stalked, confronted, questioned and took Mike Lindells phone in order to see what was on it and what he’s said about the election.


14 posted on 09/17/2022 4:26:10 AM PDT by vivenne
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

That was then, this is now. The problem now is they may have good people or may be hiring good people but the culture is such that they quickly become indoctrinated to the current way of doing things and don’t even know what it is like to do it right. All current FBI, unless they turn into whistle-blowers are lost causes and can not be trusted. IMO.


15 posted on 09/17/2022 4:30:52 AM PDT by vivenne
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To: Dr. Franklin
“When I was younger, people feared the government becoming Big Brother. Instead, corporate America became that, and they give the government whatever information it wants about everyone.”

Yeah, it’s called fascism.

16 posted on 09/17/2022 4:31:17 AM PDT by Sicon ("All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." - G. Orwell)
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To: from occupied ga

“Free Republic on Facebook”

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4093765/posts

“Face Book has Disabled Free Republic’s FB Forum Hi there, I’m one of JimRob’s FR FB Admins. The Zuckholes just disabled our FR FB group.”

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4090900/posts


17 posted on 09/17/2022 4:59:25 AM PDT by Pollard (Worm Free PureBlood)
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To: Pollard
https://mewe.com/group/5ae200940f99140aa43187fa/members


18 posted on 09/17/2022 5:00:00 AM PDT by Pollard (Worm Free PureBlood)
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To: SeekAndFind
Meanwhile, over at the little blue bird...

Big Tech Whistleblower Exposes Twitter’s Close Relationship With The Chinese Communist Party

19 posted on 09/17/2022 5:01:05 AM PDT by mewzilla (We need to repeal RCV wherever it's in use and go back to dumb voting machines.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I don’t believe the FIB.


20 posted on 09/17/2022 5:04:49 AM PDT by sauropod (Unbelief has nothing to say. Chance favors the prepared mind.)
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