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FBI Hired Social Media Surveillance Firm That Labeled Black Lives Matter Organizers 'Threat Actors' (theintercept.com) 151

The FBI's primary tool for monitoring social media threats is the same contractor that labeled peaceful Black Lives Matter protest leaders DeRay McKesson and Johnetta Elzie as "threat actors" requiring "continuous monitoring" in 2015. From a report: The contractor, ZeroFox, identified McKesson and Elzie as posing a "high severity" physical threat, despite including no evidence that McKesson or Elzie were suspected of criminal activity. "It's been almost a decade since the referenced 2015 incident and in that time we have invested heavily in fine-tuning our collections, analysis and labeling of alerts," Lexie Gunther, a spokesperson for ZeroFox, told The Intercept, "including the addition of a fully managed service that ensures human analysis of every alert that comes through the ZeroFox Platform to ensure we are only alerting customers to legitimate threats and are labeling those threats appropriately."

The FBI, which declined to comment, hired ZeroFox in 2021, a fact referenced in the new 106-page Senate report about the intelligence community's failure to anticipate the January 6, 2021, uprising at the U.S. Capitol. The June 27 report, produced by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, shows the bureau's broad authorities to surveil social media content -- authorities the FBI previously denied it had, including before Congress. It also reveals the FBI's reliance on outside companies to do much of the filtering for them. The FBI's $14 million contract to ZeroFox for "FBI social media alerting" replaced a similar contract with Dataminr, another firm with a history of scrutinizing racial justice movements. Dataminr, like ZeroFox, subjected the Black Lives Matter movement to web surveillance on behalf of the Minneapolis Police Department, previous reporting by The Intercept has shown.

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FBI Hired Social Media Surveillance Firm That Labeled Black Lives Matter Organizers 'Threat Actors'

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 06, 2023 @03:43PM (#63662840)

    They incited riots, and should be responsible for every death related to protests, and their fancy mansions taken away.

    They were 90000% threat actors that caused serious harm.

    • by ArchieBunker ( 132337 ) on Thursday July 06, 2023 @04:04PM (#63662974)

      What if Harvard University says otherwise? https://carrcenter.hks.harvard... [harvard.edu]

      • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Harvard University could just as accurately publish a study headlined "Donald Trump January 6th rally-goers were overwhelmingly peaceful, our research finds".

        But they won't. And you'll make some excuse for why that's totally different.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          Republicans already say that. But let's see how Georgia republican representative Andrew Clyde reacted. He's on the left in this photo. https://news.yahoo.com/twitter... [yahoo.com]

          You'll notice his mouth open almost like he's screaming as he hides behind an armed guard. I was told these were just some friendly tourists that stopped by. Why was Mr. Clyde so scared?

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        Black Lives Matter protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful

        Ok, then why the black lives matter movement? Because Police interactions are overwhelmingly peaceful (especially when you consider they are constantly dealing with, you know, criminals and criminal acts).

        • by Ksevio ( 865461 ) on Thursday July 06, 2023 @04:46PM (#63663114) Homepage

          Police should be held to a higher standard as they aren't accountable to anyone. People that rioted at or after BLM protests were often prosecuted.

        • Black Lives Matter protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful

          Ok, then why the black lives matter movement? Because Police interactions are overwhelmingly peaceful (especially when you consider they are constantly dealing with, you know, criminals and criminal acts).

          Devil's advocate, purely for the thought-exercise...

          Police - outside of the correctional facility side of things - almost never deal with criminals or criminal acts.

          It's my understanding that in the US, people are assumed innocent until - and unless - proven guilty in a court of law. Police are interacting with non-criminals (or at least ex-criminals who are now free after having served their sentence) almost all the time. An officer may have suspicions, may have evidence, and may have personal observ

          • Police - outside of the correctional facility side of things - almost never deal with criminals or criminal acts.....Police are interacting with non-criminals

            Police interact with criminals all the time. The police just don't know WHICH people are criminals, but people they arrest are frequently convicted of crimes. Why do you think so many of them try to run away from police? Because they know they are about to be arrested and charged/convicted of a crime they just committed.

            • Police - outside of the correctional facility side of things - almost never deal with criminals or criminal acts.....Police are interacting with non-criminals

              Police interact with criminals all the time. The police just don't know WHICH people are criminals, but people they arrest are frequently convicted of crimes. Why do you think so many of them try to run away from police? Because they know they are about to be arrested and charged/convicted of a crime they just committed.

              As I said, it was just a philosophical thought.

              That said, why do "so many" try to run away from police? How many is "so" many? Ten percent? Five percent? One percent? Fifty people a year? What's the actual statistic behind "so many"? Also, if you - for a moment - accept the idea that police are known to act in biased ways, in many cases running away makes plenty of sense, even if innocent. Also also, police - and armed people in general - are damned scary. I'm an innocent random white guy and th

        • like, a lot. Like, many times the rate you shoot white folk (which is also too high). And there's every indication you do it because you know you can get away with it.

          The reason we have to say Black Lives Matters is you keep letting it slip your mind.
          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            Every year, nearly twice as many white people as black people are shot by police. Don't 'White Lives Matter' too?
        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          It was about far more than just the fatal police interactions, although those were justification enough.

          Even when black people aren't murdered by the cops, there is plenty of statistical evidence that they are treated worse. Things a white person would be left off with a verbal warning for, land black people behind bars.

          Stats show that white people in some areas are just as likely to be using or carrying drugs, but the cops more often interact with black people.

          The killings really were just the tip of the i

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        Harvard university can say that BLM riots, which caused over two billion dollars in damage and the deaths of over fifty people who tried to protect their families and communities, were peaceful all they want. That doesn't make it true. It's easy to fake this sort of thing when you do things like count a month long violent terrorist insurrection and secession [archive.is] as dozens of separate "peaceful" protests, or simply label each and every single act of violence as a right wing false flag.

        The fact is these "overwhel

      • Because if it's one thing I've learned from The Simpsons it's that you can use facts to prove anything that is even remotely true.

        Who are you gonna believe? A peer reviewed study from a major university or 30 years of questionable TV shows about "inner city youths"?
      • by Etcetera ( 14711 ) on Thursday July 06, 2023 @05:42PM (#63663314) Homepage

        What if Harvard University says otherwise? https://carrcenter.hks.harvard... [harvard.edu]

        ["Black Lives Matter protesters were overwhelmingly peaceful"]

        This is such a ludicrous point, and really only gets made by those who don't understand the full scope of 2020. These "protestors" were active from the end of May until election day. That's five solid months of events. In my specific neighborhood (I live in a downtown tourism/entertainment district a few blocks from our Federal building, fire station, and central police HQ) we had "protests" happen an average of about every other day.

        That's every other day police helicopters are there, the streets are tense and unsafe, and if tiny little towns in the middle of nowhere can erupt into flames because some event happened somewhere in the country earlier that day then it could certainly happen on my block.

        The fact that 93% of protests were non-violent means nothing when the events are happening in dozens of cities, every other day, for five months. How would you like it if there was "only a 1-in-12 chance" that you'd get punched in the face if you walked out your front door that day over the course of five months. THAT is what that stat is saying.

      • What if Harvard University says otherwise?

        What if we let the billions in damages speak for itself?

    • They incited riots, and should be responsible for every death related to protests, and their fancy mansions taken away.

      They were 90000% threat actors that caused serious harm.

      So you're saying the January 6th insurrectionists should get at least the same treatment for attacking police [cnn.com], destroying [cnn.com] property [cnn.com], and wanting to kill [cnn.com] elected officials [pbs.org]. Good to know.

      • So you're saying the January 6th insurrectionists should get at least the same treatment for attacking police [cnn.com], destroying [cnn.com] property [cnn.com], and wanting to kill [cnn.com] elected officials [pbs.org]. Good to know.

        Absolutely. 100%. And I'm pretty sure quite a few of them are already in prison, such as this jackass: https://www.nbcnews.com/politi... [nbcnews.com]

  • by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Thursday July 06, 2023 @03:47PM (#63662858)
    Not really! They were just common everyday scammers running off with the cash.
    • by HBI ( 10338492 )

      That requires a level of credulity that existed maybe 30 years ago, but not today. Whatever happened to the Proud Boys is going to happen to BLM, maybe not under this administration, but eventually. The tit for tat lawfare is continuing.

    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      just common everyday scammers running off with the cash.

      Bailing with Looted Money?

      Keep in mind that some political groups don't have any formal organization, they are just informal clubs where members can come and go without a paper trail. Riff-raff can often take advantage of the loose nature to scam people. That doesn't necessarily mean that most members are crooked.

    • by taustin ( 171655 )

      That accurately describes the leadership of nearly every political movement in the last 50 years. Probably longer, but certainly as far back as I can remember.

      The only exceptions are the ones who were crazy in dangerous ways, like McCarthy.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Yes or no; do you feel BLM and it's leaders are "threat actors"?

  • by gillbates ( 106458 ) on Thursday July 06, 2023 @03:57PM (#63662922) Homepage Journal

    I'm starting to believe the government hates everybody.

    Even if I don't agree with BLM, why are my tax dollars going toward these investigations? Does the FBI really not know how to tell the difference between someone who's going to show up in your neighborhood carrying signs and the sort of folks that will blow up buildings?

    • Maybe you should read some of the other posts related to this story.

    • How to do you monitor suspicious people and groups without some kind of categorization system that could make them look negative if the records get out to the public (via Congressional investigations)?

      I don't like the idea of the gov't "snooping around", but you have to either present a better alternative, or agree to live with the fallout of letem-be, such as terrorist acts that kill many.

      No cop will be 100% perfect because human nature makes humans too human, but the alternative is zero cops, which expos

    • by Jhon ( 241832 )

      "Does the FBI really not know how to tell the difference between someone who's going to show up in your neighborhood carrying signs and the sort of folks that will blow up buildings?"

      When the news reports that "protests" were, except for the violence, vandalism and riots were "otherwise peaceful", it makes me think that nobody can tell that difference -- FBI, NYT, ABC, CNN, FOX... pick your three letters -- they all seem to miss important crap.

      • When the news reports that "protests" were, except for the violence, vandalism and riots were "otherwise peaceful", it makes me think that nobody can tell that difference

        It's just like Republicans saying the January 6th terrorists were "peaceful tourists" as they attacked police, broke property, and called for the deaths of elected officials.

        I mean, who here HASN'T gone on a tour in combat fatigures, wearing goggles and a helmet while carrying zip ties and then tasing police [go.com]? It's such a common occurrence

        • by Jhon ( 241832 )

          Excellent use of "what about" isms. (That was sarcasm, by the way).

          So, lets take a closer look! Nationwide riots, theft, violence and destruction over numerous cities with virtually zero accountability and try to equivocate that to a single day at a single location clear examples of accountability. No, no apples vs. oranges here, my friend!

          (BTW, I'm not a Republican. Nor am a a tribal partisan -- it's folks like that using selective rhetoric similar to what you are using that are damaging this country

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      Two billion dollars in destruction, over a thousand buildings razed to the ground in minneapolis alone, entire neighborhoods literally begging for their children not to be burned to death [twitter.com], over fifty cold blooded murders, and a month long armed terrorist insurrection that seized an entire downtown metro area and literally seceded from the United States.

      These are the sort of folks who blow up buildings.

    • Your tax dollars are probably going to ZeroFox as a result of kickbacks. The government cites as a reason they need the software, the "failure to anticipate the January 6, 2021, uprising". There was no failure to anticipate, there was a failure to effectively respond, i.e. the security forces stood down. Essentially the same thing that happened for 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, in miniature.

      The only question is whether it was planned that way from the beginning, or if they just couldn't let a good crisis go to was

    • When you work against the will of 'The People' than every person is a potential threat.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    - Planning violent demonstrations
    - Encouraging violence against people and property
    - Funding same

    So yeah.. BLM organizers were threat actors.

  • Really? "Peaceful"? In 2020 I was pretty lucky and they just smashed my mailbox and dispersed all my mail around, but others in the area had their properties vandalized or burned...
  • by Anonymous Coward

    They took Al Sharpton's race grifting to the next level.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Buying Large Mansions has caused billions in damage, killed people and you think they are "Actors"? lol
  • The state security apparatus will target anyone who they deem a potential threat to state security, full stop. The recent uptick in right-wing extremism (culminating in the 1/6 riot) means that their efforts have been focused there, but that doesn't mean they're sympathetic to left-wing causes. There were an awful lot of people here carrying water for their social media censorship campaign and bemoaning the judge who granted an injunction against it because it targeted right wingers. They would do well t
  • It will be interesting to see what happens when firms like ZeroFox, or law enforcement agencies directly, start using LLM's to determine threat risks. We can be sure some bright spark is going build a business model around the concept, and the inappropriateness of it all won't stop the FBI and their ilk from piling onto the bandwagon.

    As an aside, it occurs to me that we need a 'Godwin's Law' equivalent for AI...

  • Not a surprise given the Nixon admin's admission of launching the War on Drugs to target black people. And then Regan monetizing the misery of poor black people to fund Iran-Contra.
  • Were they supposed to say "protest organizers which can possibly unintentionally create threats to property and persons, thus requiring monitoring"? Threat actors seems a little more concise.

  • So what's new? The FBI definitely considered MLK a "threat actor" and tried to kill him [wikipedia.org] before James Earl Ray helped them out.

  • I stopped reading after "peaceful". BS;DR

  • Practically it's impossible to deploy 1 police per 1 civilian

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