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.


Socialist insurgency storms Trump’s backyard, with pro-Israel Democrats in crosshairs
Troy Jackson, now pushing affordability message, voted to raise taxes in Maine
Appeals court rules Trump admin unlawfully appointed Nevada’s top federal prosecutor
DOJ opens probe into prestigious college over alleged discrimination favoring minority students
Trump DOJ accuses Obama judge of ‘Monday-morning quarterbacking’ in bid to revive Abrego Garcia case
Virginia man acquitted by insanity in killing flees US during 48-hour mental hospital pass
Man calls 911 after girlfriend found dead in motel, police allegedly uncover disturbing videos on his phone
Newly Released COVID Email Shows FDA Head Warning Fauci of Vax Side Effects, Then Eerie 4-Word Response from the Disgraced COVID Chief
Illegal immigrant learns fate after using stolen identity to vote in US elections for decades
Penn State cocaine bust nets 14 arrests over alleged pledge coke-cutting ‘indoctrination’ rituals
Watch: Mom, Daughter Threatened with Ejection Over Pro-Girl Shirts, Despite Paying $2k for Tickets Just to Support Sophie Cunningham
LA gun owners stuck waiting years for concealed carry permits score major DOJ victory
Watch: In Just 30 Seconds Bill Maher Uses Actual History to Defeat One of Palestinians’ Dirtiest Gaza Lies
Mamdani’s New York: Man Charged with Hate Crime After Randomly Attacking Jewish Woman, 63, at Synagogue
Harvard, NYU among 30 universities hit with Pentagon foreign-tie audit deadline

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.


Socialist insurgency storms Trump’s backyard, with pro-Israel Democrats in crosshairs
Troy Jackson, now pushing affordability message, voted to raise taxes in Maine
Appeals court rules Trump admin unlawfully appointed Nevada’s top federal prosecutor
DOJ opens probe into prestigious college over alleged discrimination favoring minority students
Trump DOJ accuses Obama judge of ‘Monday-morning quarterbacking’ in bid to revive Abrego Garcia case
Virginia man acquitted by insanity in killing flees US during 48-hour mental hospital pass
Man calls 911 after girlfriend found dead in motel, police allegedly uncover disturbing videos on his phone
Newly Released COVID Email Shows FDA Head Warning Fauci of Vax Side Effects, Then Eerie 4-Word Response from the Disgraced COVID Chief
Illegal immigrant learns fate after using stolen identity to vote in US elections for decades
Penn State cocaine bust nets 14 arrests over alleged pledge coke-cutting ‘indoctrination’ rituals
Watch: Mom, Daughter Threatened with Ejection Over Pro-Girl Shirts, Despite Paying $2k for Tickets Just to Support Sophie Cunningham
LA gun owners stuck waiting years for concealed carry permits score major DOJ victory
Watch: In Just 30 Seconds Bill Maher Uses Actual History to Defeat One of Palestinians’ Dirtiest Gaza Lies
Mamdani’s New York: Man Charged with Hate Crime After Randomly Attacking Jewish Woman, 63, at Synagogue
Harvard, NYU among 30 universities hit with Pentagon foreign-tie audit deadline

“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.

“That’s extremely troubling.”


Socialist insurgency storms Trump’s backyard, with pro-Israel Democrats in crosshairs
Troy Jackson, now pushing affordability message, voted to raise taxes in Maine
Appeals court rules Trump admin unlawfully appointed Nevada’s top federal prosecutor
DOJ opens probe into prestigious college over alleged discrimination favoring minority students
Trump DOJ accuses Obama judge of ‘Monday-morning quarterbacking’ in bid to revive Abrego Garcia case
Virginia man acquitted by insanity in killing flees US during 48-hour mental hospital pass
Man calls 911 after girlfriend found dead in motel, police allegedly uncover disturbing videos on his phone
Newly Released COVID Email Shows FDA Head Warning Fauci of Vax Side Effects, Then Eerie 4-Word Response from the Disgraced COVID Chief
Illegal immigrant learns fate after using stolen identity to vote in US elections for decades
Penn State cocaine bust nets 14 arrests over alleged pledge coke-cutting ‘indoctrination’ rituals
Watch: Mom, Daughter Threatened with Ejection Over Pro-Girl Shirts, Despite Paying $2k for Tickets Just to Support Sophie Cunningham
LA gun owners stuck waiting years for concealed carry permits score major DOJ victory
Watch: In Just 30 Seconds Bill Maher Uses Actual History to Defeat One of Palestinians’ Dirtiest Gaza Lies
Mamdani’s New York: Man Charged with Hate Crime After Randomly Attacking Jewish Woman, 63, at Synagogue
Harvard, NYU among 30 universities hit with Pentagon foreign-tie audit deadline

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


Socialist insurgency storms Trump’s backyard, with pro-Israel Democrats in crosshairs
Troy Jackson, now pushing affordability message, voted to raise taxes in Maine
Appeals court rules Trump admin unlawfully appointed Nevada’s top federal prosecutor
DOJ opens probe into prestigious college over alleged discrimination favoring minority students
Trump DOJ accuses Obama judge of ‘Monday-morning quarterbacking’ in bid to revive Abrego Garcia case
Virginia man acquitted by insanity in killing flees US during 48-hour mental hospital pass
Man calls 911 after girlfriend found dead in motel, police allegedly uncover disturbing videos on his phone
Newly Released COVID Email Shows FDA Head Warning Fauci of Vax Side Effects, Then Eerie 4-Word Response from the Disgraced COVID Chief
Illegal immigrant learns fate after using stolen identity to vote in US elections for decades
Penn State cocaine bust nets 14 arrests over alleged pledge coke-cutting ‘indoctrination’ rituals
Watch: Mom, Daughter Threatened with Ejection Over Pro-Girl Shirts, Despite Paying $2k for Tickets Just to Support Sophie Cunningham
LA gun owners stuck waiting years for concealed carry permits score major DOJ victory
Watch: In Just 30 Seconds Bill Maher Uses Actual History to Defeat One of Palestinians’ Dirtiest Gaza Lies
Mamdani’s New York: Man Charged with Hate Crime After Randomly Attacking Jewish Woman, 63, at Synagogue
Harvard, NYU among 30 universities hit with Pentagon foreign-tie audit deadline

“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