SOMEX---the FBI's social media monitoring program. If you have doubts or concerns about the pervasiveness of FBI monitoring of the internet for possible bad actors,,this should be of interest.
The FBI has a little-known effort known as Social Media Exploitation, or SOMEX, that allows agents to monitor Americans’ social media posts for threats of violence and other law enforcement purposes, with virtually no oversight and no requirement to show a prior threat.
That’s the main finding of a USA TODAY investigation published this week. My colleague Tami Abdollah and I outline the FBI’s SOMEX efforts and consider how the FBI’s history of bias might impact this new era in domestic surveillance. We also drill into why bureau officials told Congress they didn’t have the “authority” to do something they’ve actually been doing for years.
The FBI’s years-long effort to monitor Americans’ social media posts is detailed in an extensive USA TODAY investigation published yesterday. Despite assurances from top FBI officials that the bureau only has limited authority to monitor social media posts, an examination of that authority shows it is actually almost unlimited, and subject to very little oversight.
WHAT WE DON’T YET KNOW: Just how many people – and how many posts, from how many different web sites and social platforms – federal agents and contractors may have seen, or preserved.
The FBI has a little-known effort known as Social Media Exploitation, or SOMEX, that allows agents to monitor Americans’ social media posts for threats of violence and other law enforcement purposes, with virtually no oversight and no requirement to show a prior threat.
That’s the main finding of a USA TODAY investigation published this week. My colleague Tami Abdollah and I outline the FBI’s SOMEX efforts and consider how the FBI’s history of bias might impact this new era in domestic surveillance. We also drill into why bureau officials told Congress they didn’t have the “authority” to do something they’ve actually been doing for years.
The FBI’s years-long effort to monitor Americans’ social media posts is detailed in an extensive USA TODAY investigation published yesterday. Despite assurances from top FBI officials that the bureau only has limited authority to monitor social media posts, an examination of that authority shows it is actually almost unlimited, and subject to very little oversight.
- The FBI’s SOMEX efforts include receiving tips from the public, other law enforcement agencies and contractors who scour social media looking for threats to the public or the government.
- This might seem obvious. After all, public posts are public. Yet top FBI officials have played down the bureau’s ability to keep tabs on social media postings — even public ones — repeatedly telling Congress they don’t have ability to monitor without an “authorized purpose.”
- When did they say this? When Congress asked them why they hadn’t noticed social posts than planned the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- It turns out the phrase “authorized purpose” is extraordinarily broad, and allows agents to search and monitor social media posts for intelligence and law enforcement reasons without having seen a prior threat or getting authorization from their supervisors.
- So what has changed? The number of threats against the FBI itself. Those have soared in the weeks since agents searched Trump’s Florida home and club Mar-a-Lago. The arrest of one man making those threats initially came from a tip to the FBI’s SOMEX team. It turns out the FBI is watching social media for threats, at least in this case, a threat directed at them.
WHAT WE DON’T YET KNOW: Just how many people – and how many posts, from how many different web sites and social platforms – federal agents and contractors may have seen, or preserved.
