Report says FBI and Facebook worked together to spy on conservatives who doubted 2020 election results

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Facebook reportedly spied on the private messages of “conservative right-wing individuals,” giving partially redacted data “leads” to the FBI’s domestic terrorism unit, according to the New York Post.

The social media giant has collaborated with the FBI for the past 19 months, the newspaper reported. Those singled out and reported to the FBI are Messenger users who questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election as well as expressed “anti-government” or “anti-authority sentiments.”

Read the story at this link.

“It was done outside the legal process and without probable cause,” a source told the Post. “Facebook provides the FBI with private conversations which are protected by the First Amendment without any subpoena.”

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

Facebook has issued a denial of the report, saying, “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.” It was a carefully worded statement.

“A compound denial like that often means that portions or slight variations of the statement are true. Thus, if Facebook is screening for something just a bit more alarming than “anti-government language or questions about the validity of past elections,” the denial is inoperative,” wrote Reason magazine, a libertarian publication.

The news follows a trail that goes back as far as 2018 at least, when a U.S. federal judge refused to unseal court paperwork that may have show how the FBI was pressuring Facebook to snoop on calls made through its instant-messaging app.

Judge Lawrence O’Neill rejected the petition from the American Civil Liberties Union to release the documents to the public because, he said, “the materials at issue in this case concern techniques that, if disclosed publicly, would compromise law enforcement efforts in many, if not all, future wiretap investigations.” The judge would not even allow partially redacted files to be released.

In August 2018, it was revealed that the Department of Justice had tried to force Facebook to give it access to voice-call conversations made via its Messenger app. When Facebook refused, the DoJ tried to hold the social media giant in contempt of court.

More about that case at this link.

22 COMMENTS

  1. Wait- youre saying my government hates me and has a corrupt secret police dedicated to purging political opponents and ruling by threats and intimidation?

    Say it isn’t so..

  2. Again, if you are still using social media like Facebook, Instasham and others, you are offering yourself up to a Government that has proven to be dangerous at best.
    Leave that garbage alone and live your life without it! It is not worth your privacy being invaded by a socialist bunch that’s only interested in your demise!

  3. Hhhmmmm. How about a HUGE class action law suit against Facebook for violation of privacy laws, breach of agreement with consumers, conspiracy, and the Espionage Act.

  4. Don’t trust gmail either. Google may be doing similar with their gmail. Protonmail is much more private!

    Though, the NSA records and stores *permanently* the *content* of all phone calls and everything digital.

    • Shoot them? Seems a bit extreme…there aren’t any actual details, just lots of speculation and yet you’re calling for killing people? And are you including the 2018 DOJ? (“In August 2018, it was revealed that the Department of Justice had tried to force Facebook to give it access to voice-call conversations made via its Messenger app. When Facebook refused, the DoJ tried to hold the social media giant in contempt of court.”)

    • So it’s traitorous to have questions? To oppose the ruling class?

      Wasn’t that many years ago Hilary was screaming to every mic in sight that”descent is patriotic”.

      But it’s an insight to your psyche. Either a sad individual torn between Nazi and fascist, or a sad little man using his keyboard to make up for the failings in his life.

      But let’s dance your dance. When my side takes power again, are you gonna feel the same when we look through every nook and cranny of your life? Using your metrics are you gonna stand tall and proud as jail or execution awaits? Because of what you allegedly want happens, it WILL eventually come back on you. Hard.

      History is your friend. And history didn’t start the day Biden was elected.

      So, little “man”, a piece of advice. Contact Suzanne and ask your comment be removed before this community hands you your backside.

      • No, don’t shoot them. Perhaps work therapy is what they need. Works well for the Chinese. We can become an industrial leader again, with all the free labor. And if they are old and not productive enough, give them the shot and they will have a heart attack or stroke. It’s for their own good, and the good of the country.

  5. The counter-intelligence function performed by the FBI MUST be separated from the law enforcement function ASAP. We need, unfortunately, two different agencies to perform these functions. The Russiagate stuff demonstrates the need for this change. Here, we have the spook/suicide vest -hunters using Facebook to insert themselves into the middle of speech protected by the First Amendment and giving it a law-enforcement flavor. The leadership of the FBI is doing nothing to keep the two functions separate and the entire agency is now weaponized against anyone it does not like. Director Christopher Wray is a big part of the problem. If Senator Sullivan had a backbone, he would introduce legislation to separate the functions.

  6. No need to unlawfully seek info on the January 6th Knuckleheads, they posted the crimes they committed on FB. A public post is all the FBI needs to get a legal search warrant with a probable cause requst to a sympathetic judge

    • You misspelled request cigarette fingers. Also, isnt it peculiar how much live-streaming went on during the riots of the “Summer of love”? The FBI ain’t bothering with kickin in their doors even though the BLM riots were 100 times more destructive, deadly and costly. You’re pathetic or pathogenic, take your pick

    • Oh child. You think somehow this will never come back on you.

      That’s precious.

      You’re really not very good at this.

    • Too bad your parent’s basement has internet. I have seen no comment from you that indicates that that you are a loving person. Just the same, I will pray for you. Because you too, being an American, is entitled to your opinions. And your right to peaceful protest, which you exercise daily on this site. I hope you will always enjoy this right. That’s what it is all about. Silly you. Carry on.

  7. Waste of time and resources. Facebook is full of time squandering malcontents and ‘look at what I did types’ but it takes something much more than that to be a concern. Not sure of that? Ask yourself; what’s the likelihood that someone like McVeigh might have lined his ducks up on FB? Zip.

    Whomever’s behind the FBI-FB connection is not a smart man.

  8. All awhile the real terrorists are communicating by snail-mail and disposable phones & technology. Hahaha. Doj don’t want terrorists, they want us ordinary chatty americans who talk too much. You know- we can still make face-to-face meeting with leaders-elect. No need to be addressing concerns that can be mislabled as ‘leads’ intercepted through internet by weidos. Hahaha.

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