Facebook has written to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), asking it to stop creating fake profiles on the platform for surveillance purposes. The news comes amidst growing controversy over the LAPD’s contract with a tech company called Voyager Labs, which creates software that reportedly enables law enforcement to analyze users’ social media data. In fact, Voyager claims that its software can even let the police surveil the suspect’s social media ‘friends,’ leading to severe privacy concerns among digital privacy advocates.
Facebook has been in the news for all the wrong reasons over the past several weeks, starting with the bombshell revelations by whistleblower Frances Haugen. The internal memo shared by Haugen has led to the opening of an investigation by the U.S. Congress on whether the company knowingly allowed hate and misinformation to thrive on the platform for financial gains. The company has since changed its name to ‘Meta’ in an apparent PR exercise, but that doesn’t seem to have reduced the constant trickle of negative stories.
In a letter addressed to LAPD chief Michael Moore last week, Facebook asked the agency to refrain from creating fake accounts to surveil its users. The company also took note of the LAPD’s contract with Voyager, saying that using a third-party vendor to collect user data on the platform goes against its policy. Facebook did not argue the legal merits of the LAPD’s surveillance tactics but demanded that the agency “cease all activities on Facebook that involve the use of fake accounts, impersonation of others, and collection of data for surveillance purposes.”
Is Facebook’s Stance Against LAPD Justified?
Facebook’s strong stance against the LAPD has surprised many, including some surveillance experts. Talking to the BBC, Robert Potter, an Australian security expert specializing in lawful surveillance, said that it was difficult to fathom the company’s stern letter to the LAPD, given its earlier lackluster response against much more problematic issues. He not only cited the company’s passive response against the thriving misinformation and fake news on the platform but also accused it of not doing enough to stop child trafficking, terrorism communications, and Covid disinformation.
Facebook has also been blamed for knowingly ignoring the mental health of teenagers on Instagram, as well as not doing enough to tackle the illegal trade of the Amazon rainforest land on its platform. The company has also recently been blamed for spreading plagiarized content but has remained largely unbothered by the issue. Facebook has also recently been accused of collecting massive amounts of data on teenagers via its in-house ad-targeting technology, despite publicly professing to stop all such data collection for child safety.
