Sources at the Department of Justice claim that Facebook spying has been done on Americans who have questioned the results of the 2020 election and reported it to the FBI.
Facebook and the FBI have worked together since the election to report “subversive” private messages. They sent them to the FBI’s domestic terrorist operational unit. This is a direct violation of Americans’ First Amendment and Fourth Amendment rights.
One source told the New York Post that the incident was not within the legal process and did not have probable cause. “Facebook gives the FBI private conversations that are protected under the First Amendment, without any subpoena.”
The Post reports that “these private messages were then farmed out to FBI field offices across the country as ‘leads’. These FBI field offices requested subpoenas to the partner US Attorney’s Office within their district to obtain the private conversations Facebook had already shown them.”
FBI agents from local field offices found no evidence of criminality or violence in the investigation of targeted Facebook users.
One source stated that it was “a waste of time.”
Every person who was targeted by Facebook and reported to the FBI was a “conservative right-wing individual.”
“They were gun-toting, blood-Americans [who] were] mad after the election. They shot off their mouths and talked about protests. The source said that there was nothing criminal or about violence, massacring or assassinating anyone. “Facebook sent gigabytes and photos within one hour of receiving a subpoena. It was ready to go. They just needed to wait for the legal process before they could send it.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, denies these allegations.
Erica Sackin, a Meta spokesperson, stated that these claims are false because they don’t reflect the system’s ability to protect people from harm or how it interacts with law enforcement. We carefully review all government requests for user data to ensure they are legal and specific. We often respond. We respond to all legal requests for information according to applicable law and our terms. If necessary, we notify users.
However, she made another statement an hour later that contradicted the first.
These claims are wrong. It is simply not true that we should seek out private messages of people to find anti-government language, and questions about past elections or to proactively provide those to the FBI. There is also no evidence to support this suggestion.
According to the Post Sackin, a DC-based crisis management expert who worked previously for Planned Parenthood as well as ‘Obama For America’, now heads Facebook’s communications regarding ‘counterterrorism’ and ‘dangerous organizations and individuals.
The FBI did not confirm or deny the allegations.
These claims follow recent reports that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in close contact with Dr. Fauci to try to censor information during the pandemic. Zuckerberg also revealed last month that the FBI had warned Facebook that there would be Russian disinformation during 2020’s presidential election. Zuckerberg claims that this revelation prompted Facebook to erase the Hunter Biden laptop story.
