Governments around the world are begging social media companies for your data.
A report from TechRobot earlier this year described the ways big government gets a hold of your personal information from Apple, Facebook and Twitter:
“Across the Q1 2020 Transparency Reports from Apple, Facebook and Twitter which Tech Robot analysed as part of the study, there were almost 70,000 requests for data from the US government. Alarmingly, this is also 21% higher than the number of requests that were made during the same period in 2019.
Studying the top 10 governments which request the most information from their users, the US was also granted the most access by tech companies. 76% of these requests were granted by Apple, Facebook and Twitter meaning over 50,000 pieces of information were shared with the US government. However, there has been no significant change in how many requests were granted from the previous year. In 2019, there were just 5% fewer granted requests by Apple, Facebook and Twitter.”
The sharing of user data is alarmingly accomplished without user consent, or a warrant. July reports from MRC Free Speech America highlighted the way Amazon and Google share your data with law enforcement during an “emergency.”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) asked Amazon to commit to not using voice recognition on its devices in the future for surveillance. The company declined to do so.
“Increasing law enforcement reliance on private surveillance creates a crisis of accountability, and I am particularly concerned that biometric surveillance could become central to the growing web of surveillance systems that Amazon and other powerful tech companies are responsible for," Markey wrote in a statement.
Meanwhile, Google’s policy would provide police with a user’s Nest video footage without a warrant in “emergency” situations. The company’s Terms of Service (TOS) explain the process, although it claims it has never done so.
"If we reasonably believe that we can prevent someone from dying or from suffering serious physical harm, we may provide information to a government agency -- for example, in the case of bomb threats, school shootings, kidnappings, suicide prevention and missing persons cases," the TOS page states. "We still consider these requests in light of applicable laws and our policies."
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us at the CensorTrack contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
