Law enforcement used social media to track activists and protesters during the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, according to a new report released by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Police received information from Geofeedia, a social media surveillance vendor that had special access to specific feeds on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Information including posts, topics, events, locations and photos was available to over 500 law enforcement agencies in real time.
One email obtained by the ACLU was dated October 20, 2015, and was between a Geofeedia representative and a member of the Riverside, California, police department, which was interested in Geofeedia’s services. The Geofeedia representative touted that the company “covered Ferguson/Mike Brown nationally with great success.”
