In recent years, numerous celebrities and other public figures have been raked over the coals for things they’ve said on social media. In many cases, voicing unpopular opinions can end a high-profile individual's career. But what about ordinary people who are just sharing their political views online with their friends and family?
It turns out the FBI is watching Americans’ social media posts pretty carefully, and if they don’t like what you say, they could well show up at your door and ask you to explain yourself.
A recent incident in Oklahoma highlighted just how much time and energy the American government is devoting to policing people’s speech online. Lawyer Hassan Shibly posted a video online showing FBI agents going to the home of his client, Rolla Abdeljawad, claiming they had screenshots of posts she made on Facebook that were political in nature and that they wanted to discuss them with her.
She said she wasn’t going to talk to them, and when she asked them to show their identification badges on camera, they refused. However, she later confirmed with her local police that they were part of the FBI.
Although this in-person visit was disturbing enough on its own, it gets worse. She asked one of the agents, “So we no longer live in a free country and we can’t say what we want?”
He replied: "No, we totally do. That's why we're not here to arrest you or anything. We do this every day, all day long. It's just an effort to keep everybody safe and make sure nobody has any ill will."
Really? They do this “every day, all day long”? Most of us are aware that the Biden administration works closely with social media platforms to censor Americans’ speech and make sure their preferred narratives get maximum air time while detractors are silenced, but it is still surprising to see just how far they are going in their pursuit to control our speech.
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The FBI is even willing to own up to this behavior on the record, with a statement supplied by Kayla McCleery, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma City FBI office, admitting: "Every day, the FBI engages with members of the public in furtherance of our mission, which is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States. We can never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity. The FBI is committed to ensuring our activities are conducted with a valid law enforcement or national security purpose, while upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans."
Facebook owner Meta, meanwhile, has a policy of handing over data to American law enforcement when issued with a search warrant, subpoena or court order, or in emergency cases where there is “imminent harm to a child or risk of death or serious physical injury to any person.” They complied with law enforcement requests 87.84% of the time during the first half of last year.
Facebook user criticized Israel's actions in Gaza before the FBI visited her
What exactly did Abdeljawad, who previously volunteered for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, say to cause this amount of attention? She said she is not sure which particular post is responsible, but she has made numerous posts discussing her anger about the war in Gaza, calling Israel “Israhell.” However, she has not called for violence.
At one point, she had even warned others that the government is paying attention to what they say online, writing: “Don't fall for their games. Our community is being watched & they are just waiting for any reason to round us up. If you're Muslim and/or pro-pal consider all your media accounts, Google searches, mail, messenger, local mosques & political events monitored. #NYC #usa #PoliceState #FreePalestine".
It would be interesting to compare how many people are receiving visits from the FBI for posts with anti-Israeli sentiment to those who are questioned about anti-Palestinian posts.
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