News Opinons Politics

Daily Beast Says Facebook Helped Them Dox Trump Supporter

The Daily Beast recently doxed a black forklift driver and reported Trump supporter for the alleged high crime of creating a parody video of Democrat speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi. But there’s more to the story — it appears Facebook may have helped the left-wing journalists identify him.

The Daily Beast identified the video creator as Shawn Brooks, whom they described as a forklift driver and Trump supporter from the Bronx.

A Twitter account claiming to be Brooks disputed key details of the story, claiming he is not a Trump supporter, did not create the parody video, and does not live in the Bronx.


By doxing Brooks, The Daily Beast followed the example of CNN, which threatened to unmask an anonymous Trump supporter over a parody video, forcing to him apologize in exchange for not revealing his identity. The scandal caused “CNNBlackmail” to trend on Twitter.

But there’s another aspect to the Daily Beast story which has major implications for the privacy of Facebook users — according to the Daily Beast reporter himself, Facebook gave him information on Brooks’ activity on the platform.


STATE OF PLAY: Highly watched Hong race remains too close to call as progressives notch key primary wins
Ilhan Omar on track for fifth term as Minnesota voters maintain far-left streak
Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Fauci’s Pardon Neutralized? Florida Issues Subpoena, Begins Investigation Into Self-Dealing, Which Fauci’s Pardon Does Not Cover
Watch: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Drowned Out by Boos and Jeers When She Tries to Speak at Rural Event
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Georgia teacher, father hailed as hero after dying to save girl from Myrtle Beach rip current
Watch: Trump’s NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Unloads on Fauci Over Texts Showing He Thought One Thing, But Said Another to American Mothers
Zuckerberg Superyacht Accused of Ignoring Vessel’s Call for Help – Alaskan Cruise Captain Comes to the Rescue
Trump directs CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to end Medicaid gender transition funding for minors
See also  Don Lemon moves to dismiss case over Minnesota church protest on selective and vindictive prosecution claims

Via the Daily Beast:

It’s conceivable that someone else actually edited the clip. But a Facebook official, confirming a Daily Beast investigation, said the video was first posted on Politics WatchDog directly from Brooks’ personal Facebook account. [emphasis ours]

If the Daily Beast’s description of Facebook’s actions is accurate, Facebook compromised the privacy of one of its users, handing over information on his activity to a journalist who was clearly engaged in a politically motivated hatchet-job.

Facebook has been rocked by repeated privacy scandals over the past two years, including giving major corporations access to user data without permission. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently unveiled a re-branding effort emphasizing the company’s commitment to protecting the privacy of its users.

“I believe that the future is private,” Zuckerberg said at a recent Facebook conference.

Even left-wing feminist Caroline Orr, who described the Pelosi parody as “disgusting” (it’s simply a video of Pelosi slowed down to make her words appear slurred), expressed shock at the idea of Facebook handing over private information about its users.


STATE OF PLAY: Highly watched Hong race remains too close to call as progressives notch key primary wins
Ilhan Omar on track for fifth term as Minnesota voters maintain far-left streak
Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Fauci’s Pardon Neutralized? Florida Issues Subpoena, Begins Investigation Into Self-Dealing, Which Fauci’s Pardon Does Not Cover
Watch: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Drowned Out by Boos and Jeers When She Tries to Speak at Rural Event
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Georgia teacher, father hailed as hero after dying to save girl from Myrtle Beach rip current
Watch: Trump’s NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Unloads on Fauci Over Texts Showing He Thought One Thing, But Said Another to American Mothers
Zuckerberg Superyacht Accused of Ignoring Vessel’s Call for Help – Alaskan Cruise Captain Comes to the Rescue
Trump directs CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to end Medicaid gender transition funding for minors

“It appears that Facebook helped the reporter who wrote this story identify the person behind the doctored video of Nancy Pelosi — i.e., Facebook used its own internal data to help publicly identify a private citizen” wrote Orr.

See also  ‘Oxferd Comma’ investigation being declassified by White House, with John Solomon briefing

“That’s extremely troubling.”


STATE OF PLAY: Highly watched Hong race remains too close to call as progressives notch key primary wins
Ilhan Omar on track for fifth term as Minnesota voters maintain far-left streak
Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Fauci’s Pardon Neutralized? Florida Issues Subpoena, Begins Investigation Into Self-Dealing, Which Fauci’s Pardon Does Not Cover
Watch: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Drowned Out by Boos and Jeers When She Tries to Speak at Rural Event
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Georgia teacher, father hailed as hero after dying to save girl from Myrtle Beach rip current
Watch: Trump’s NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Unloads on Fauci Over Texts Showing He Thought One Thing, But Said Another to American Mothers
Zuckerberg Superyacht Accused of Ignoring Vessel’s Call for Help – Alaskan Cruise Captain Comes to the Rescue
Trump directs CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to end Medicaid gender transition funding for minors

“Facebook confirmed to the reporter that the video was first posted “directly from Brooks’ personal Facebook account.”

See also  AOC freezes her eggs: ‘I think it’s bada**’

STATE OF PLAY: Highly watched Hong race remains too close to call as progressives notch key primary wins
Ilhan Omar on track for fifth term as Minnesota voters maintain far-left streak
Trump-backed Mike Lindell falls to Lisa Demuth in Minnesota governor primary
4-year-old dies after suffering electrical shock from clothes dryer inside Kansas home
Trump’s ‘firewall’ against socialism in battleground state punches ticket to election
Pure Evil: 3 Charged in Water, Burning Torture and Murder of Boy, 7 – Multiple Suspects Are Trans
Watch: Rules Confusion Leads to 16-Minute Delay in MLB Game as Red Sox Accidentally Score a Run
Fauci’s Pardon Neutralized? Florida Issues Subpoena, Begins Investigation Into Self-Dealing, Which Fauci’s Pardon Does Not Cover
Watch: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Drowned Out by Boos and Jeers When She Tries to Speak at Rural Event
Trump looms over blue state primary as progressive gov faces far-left challenge
Darline Graham Nordone, Ralph Norman advance to runoff in Senate race to replace Lindsey Graham
Georgia teacher, father hailed as hero after dying to save girl from Myrtle Beach rip current
Watch: Trump’s NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya Unloads on Fauci Over Texts Showing He Thought One Thing, But Said Another to American Mothers
Zuckerberg Superyacht Accused of Ignoring Vessel’s Call for Help – Alaskan Cruise Captain Comes to the Rescue
Trump directs CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz to end Medicaid gender transition funding for minors

“So… Facebook is handing over information to reporters regarding what people are doing on their personal Facebook accounts?”

“The guy didn’t break any laws. He didn’t even violate any of Facebook’s policies, according to the company. The doctored video is still up! In Facebook’s eyes, this guy did nothing wrong — yet they just handed over his private data to a reporter. How is that justifiable?”

Breitbart News has reached out to Facebook for its side of the story.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter