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.
DC Bar lawyer withdraws from Ed Martin disciplinary case after partisan posts surface
WATCH: Mamdani bashed for going ‘full deranged marxist’ with rip on famous Ronald Reagan line
Breaking: 2 Shooters at California Islamic Center Neutralized – Multiple Causalities Confirmed
Trump Sends First of Its Kind Message to ‘Rededicate 250’ Attendees Who Flooded the National Mall to Recommit America to God
Skid Row election scheme allegedly fueled by pocket-change payoffs busted by Trump DOJ
Report: Chinese propaganda, Singham network, foreign dark money linked to campaigns against data centers
Active shooter reported at San Diego Islamic center as SWAT, emergency crews respond
Apologies and cash headed to alleged ‘weaponization’ victims in billion-dollar Trump settlement
Breaking: Jury Sides Against Musk in OpenAI Lawsuit
Dem who welcomed socialist mayor’s ‘change’ now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: ‘Gravely concerned’
Video: AOC Wheels Out Political Prop We’ve Never Seen Before – A Bulletproof Barrier, But There’s a Giant Problem
Democrat Max Morley Drops Out of Primary After Admitting to Mail Theft
Trump moves to drop $10 billion IRS lawsuit as DOJ weighs weaponization victims fund
Swing-seat Republican sidelined by ‘serious’ illness misses 88 votes as majority hangs by thread
Jackson protests as Supreme Court uses Louisiana gerrymandering ruling to instruct lower courts
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.
DC Bar lawyer withdraws from Ed Martin disciplinary case after partisan posts surface
WATCH: Mamdani bashed for going ‘full deranged marxist’ with rip on famous Ronald Reagan line
Breaking: 2 Shooters at California Islamic Center Neutralized – Multiple Causalities Confirmed
Trump Sends First of Its Kind Message to ‘Rededicate 250’ Attendees Who Flooded the National Mall to Recommit America to God
Skid Row election scheme allegedly fueled by pocket-change payoffs busted by Trump DOJ
Report: Chinese propaganda, Singham network, foreign dark money linked to campaigns against data centers
Active shooter reported at San Diego Islamic center as SWAT, emergency crews respond
Apologies and cash headed to alleged ‘weaponization’ victims in billion-dollar Trump settlement
Breaking: Jury Sides Against Musk in OpenAI Lawsuit
Dem who welcomed socialist mayor’s ‘change’ now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: ‘Gravely concerned’
Video: AOC Wheels Out Political Prop We’ve Never Seen Before – A Bulletproof Barrier, But There’s a Giant Problem
Democrat Max Morley Drops Out of Primary After Admitting to Mail Theft
Trump moves to drop $10 billion IRS lawsuit as DOJ weighs weaponization victims fund
Swing-seat Republican sidelined by ‘serious’ illness misses 88 votes as majority hangs by thread
Jackson protests as Supreme Court uses Louisiana gerrymandering ruling to instruct lower courts
So … 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.
That’s extremely troubling. 1/ https://t.co/DEXXL8C4uj
— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) June 2, 2019
“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.”
DC Bar lawyer withdraws from Ed Martin disciplinary case after partisan posts surface
WATCH: Mamdani bashed for going ‘full deranged marxist’ with rip on famous Ronald Reagan line
Breaking: 2 Shooters at California Islamic Center Neutralized – Multiple Causalities Confirmed
Trump Sends First of Its Kind Message to ‘Rededicate 250’ Attendees Who Flooded the National Mall to Recommit America to God
Skid Row election scheme allegedly fueled by pocket-change payoffs busted by Trump DOJ
Report: Chinese propaganda, Singham network, foreign dark money linked to campaigns against data centers
Active shooter reported at San Diego Islamic center as SWAT, emergency crews respond
Apologies and cash headed to alleged ‘weaponization’ victims in billion-dollar Trump settlement
Breaking: Jury Sides Against Musk in OpenAI Lawsuit
Dem who welcomed socialist mayor’s ‘change’ now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: ‘Gravely concerned’
Video: AOC Wheels Out Political Prop We’ve Never Seen Before – A Bulletproof Barrier, But There’s a Giant Problem
Democrat Max Morley Drops Out of Primary After Admitting to Mail Theft
Trump moves to drop $10 billion IRS lawsuit as DOJ weighs weaponization victims fund
Swing-seat Republican sidelined by ‘serious’ illness misses 88 votes as majority hangs by thread
Jackson protests as Supreme Court uses Louisiana gerrymandering ruling to instruct lower courts
Facebook confirmed to the reporter that the video was first posted “directly from Brooks’ personal Facebook account.”
So… Facebook is handing over information to reporters regarding what people are doing on their personal Facebook accounts? 2/ pic.twitter.com/7D6MDcU5Es
— Caroline Orr (@RVAwonk) June 2, 2019
“Facebook confirmed to the reporter that the video was first posted “directly from Brooks’ personal Facebook account.”
DC Bar lawyer withdraws from Ed Martin disciplinary case after partisan posts surface
WATCH: Mamdani bashed for going ‘full deranged marxist’ with rip on famous Ronald Reagan line
Breaking: 2 Shooters at California Islamic Center Neutralized – Multiple Causalities Confirmed
Trump Sends First of Its Kind Message to ‘Rededicate 250’ Attendees Who Flooded the National Mall to Recommit America to God
Skid Row election scheme allegedly fueled by pocket-change payoffs busted by Trump DOJ
Report: Chinese propaganda, Singham network, foreign dark money linked to campaigns against data centers
Active shooter reported at San Diego Islamic center as SWAT, emergency crews respond
Apologies and cash headed to alleged ‘weaponization’ victims in billion-dollar Trump settlement
Breaking: Jury Sides Against Musk in OpenAI Lawsuit
Dem who welcomed socialist mayor’s ‘change’ now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: ‘Gravely concerned’
Video: AOC Wheels Out Political Prop We’ve Never Seen Before – A Bulletproof Barrier, But There’s a Giant Problem
Democrat Max Morley Drops Out of Primary After Admitting to Mail Theft
Trump moves to drop $10 billion IRS lawsuit as DOJ weighs weaponization victims fund
Swing-seat Republican sidelined by ‘serious’ illness misses 88 votes as majority hangs by thread
Jackson protests as Supreme Court uses Louisiana gerrymandering ruling to instruct lower courts
“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.









