The Surveillance of Social Movements by Government Agencies: A Case Study

• In Event: A New/Old Technology for Governance? Questioning Big Data Surveillance - II: Prediction, Race and Resistance

Abstract

With the release of documents that outlined the FBI’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr., including wiretaps of his telephone conversations, the clandestine approaches of monitoring those who spearhead social movements has become more apparent. Government agencies have utilized Counter Intelligence Programs (COINTELPRO) to disrupt political organizations, such as the KKK and the civil rights movements, in order to undermine their actions and dissolve public support. In this new digital era, social movements, and consequently surveillance of their related activities, have evolved. The use of digital platforms has allowed movements to garner international attention and followers. Social media surveillance (SOCMINT) allows surveillance agencies to monitor the activities of individuals on social media platforms, including interactions that are private. This paper analyzes how government surveillance targets activists on social media platforms, thus disrupting the plans of the social movements. I will also examine the platforms identified in the documents and subsequent media reports, along with the information gathered from them in an attempt to determine the novel informatics that the surveillance agencies use to undermine grassroots movements. Using recently published FBI documents which provide evidence of the agency’s surveillance of black activists involved with Black Lives Matter (BLM) as a case study, I will provide details of their methods and the consequences of their interference. I will discuss how the functionality of the platforms used enable BLM activists to mobilize their cause, but also allow for their surveillance.

Author

• Jasmeet Bahia, Carleton University