Facebook Spied On Conservative Users’ Private Messages, Provided Fed ‘Leads’ To The FBI: REPORT

Daily Caller News Foundation ^ | 09/16/2022 | Gabe Kaminsky

[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.”

[bigfootbob]

👍👍

I say that to everyone that will listen and to others that don’t. You speak the truth.

[logi_cal869]

Show of hands of FReepers still using farcebook. /s

What’s it gonna take? A chip in your a$$???

[Poser]

I use Facebook every day, but never for political discussion. It's a useful tool to see where the good taco truck will be today, stay in contact with Usenet motorcycle groups, see photos of friends and family, and post pictures of my cat.

I'm sure the FBI loves my cat too.

[Joe 6-pack]

"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."

It was really quite genius from the tyrant's point of view. If, 20-30 years ago, the government had mandated all individuals carry with them a personal tracking/activity monitoring device, the public would have been up in arms. But, call that monitoring device, "the latest iPhone," and combine it with a slick, psychology-driven marketing campaign, and people will willingly stand in line for days to get it when it hit the shelves.

While I do not agree with, nor condone his methods, Ted Kaczinski's manifesto could not have been more accurate about technology being used to enslave rather than to liberate humanity.

[antidemoncrat]

Facebook aka Fakebook

[Bshaw]

I still use it, as it is one of the few spaces I can look in and connect with family living afar, see relative’s kids, and chat with former school mates and military friends.

Strictly social posts.

Younger generations think FB is for old coots, and Zuckerberg is chasing away those same old coots.

FB will die and be replaced in short order.

[Vaduz]

It was done outside the legal process and without probable cause.

It’s getting to be a habit it’s how coups get started.

[Zathras]

WhatsApp.
FB has all the keys and can monitor anyone they want.

[Scrambler Bob]

QFV$ uylib 1653!^# Mustache Midnight

LiuBiubu HFiBiRVcoott

(PS that does NOT spell “Cootie”}