Social media sites push back against police

In 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California published a report revealing that the social media monitoring service Geofeedia had suggested it could help police track protesters. The report's publication led Twitter and Facebook to restrict Geofeedia's access to their bulk data. ACLUNC argued that even though the data is public, using it for police surveillance is an invasion of privacy. Police are not legally required to get a warrant before searching public data; however, some departments have established internal rules that require officers to get searches approved in advance or that limit the reasons for which they may conduct such searches.

https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/10/15/498005101/police-searches-of-social-media-face-privacy-pushback

Writer: Martin Kaste
Publication: NPR