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.


Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump admin targets Maduro’s inner circle, family
Fox News Poll: Views on the year ending are merriest since 2020
Veteran Aussie Cop’s Shot Targeting Hannukah Mass Murderer Being Called ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Takedown, But Was It?
Cynthia Lummis becomes 11th senator to walk away from upper chamber in 2026
Epstein files explode open as DOJ details discovery of powerful figures and more than 1,200 victims
DOJ publishes trove of Epstein files, says more to come after Friday deadline
Trump has light-bulb moment as he announces on the fly he will pressure insurance companies into 80% price cuts
Rubio crusades for Western civilization, warning European mass migration could threaten future of NATO
Must See: Jibbering Dem Sen Plunges Into Sheer Panic as FCC Chair Brendan Carr Produces Letter Senator Once Wrote and Is Desperate to Keep Quiet
House Republican Considering Plan to Expel Ilhan Omar from Congress
Bombshell Claim: Brown University Was Asked to Cut Cameras Earlier in the Year to Protect Palestinian Activists
As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement
Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff’s unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Graham leads bipartisan demand for tech reform vote to ‘bring social media companies to heel’
Schumer accuses Trump admin of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ amid document dispute
See also  As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement

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.


Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump admin targets Maduro’s inner circle, family
Fox News Poll: Views on the year ending are merriest since 2020
Veteran Aussie Cop’s Shot Targeting Hannukah Mass Murderer Being Called ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Takedown, But Was It?
Cynthia Lummis becomes 11th senator to walk away from upper chamber in 2026
Epstein files explode open as DOJ details discovery of powerful figures and more than 1,200 victims
DOJ publishes trove of Epstein files, says more to come after Friday deadline
Trump has light-bulb moment as he announces on the fly he will pressure insurance companies into 80% price cuts
Rubio crusades for Western civilization, warning European mass migration could threaten future of NATO
Must See: Jibbering Dem Sen Plunges Into Sheer Panic as FCC Chair Brendan Carr Produces Letter Senator Once Wrote and Is Desperate to Keep Quiet
House Republican Considering Plan to Expel Ilhan Omar from Congress
Bombshell Claim: Brown University Was Asked to Cut Cameras Earlier in the Year to Protect Palestinian Activists
As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement
Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff’s unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Graham leads bipartisan demand for tech reform vote to ‘bring social media companies to heel’
Schumer accuses Trump admin of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ amid document dispute

“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  The three front-runners for Trump’s Fed chair pick: What to know

“That’s extremely troubling.”


Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump admin targets Maduro’s inner circle, family
Fox News Poll: Views on the year ending are merriest since 2020
Veteran Aussie Cop’s Shot Targeting Hannukah Mass Murderer Being Called ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Takedown, But Was It?
Cynthia Lummis becomes 11th senator to walk away from upper chamber in 2026
Epstein files explode open as DOJ details discovery of powerful figures and more than 1,200 victims
DOJ publishes trove of Epstein files, says more to come after Friday deadline
Trump has light-bulb moment as he announces on the fly he will pressure insurance companies into 80% price cuts
Rubio crusades for Western civilization, warning European mass migration could threaten future of NATO
Must See: Jibbering Dem Sen Plunges Into Sheer Panic as FCC Chair Brendan Carr Produces Letter Senator Once Wrote and Is Desperate to Keep Quiet
House Republican Considering Plan to Expel Ilhan Omar from Congress
Bombshell Claim: Brown University Was Asked to Cut Cameras Earlier in the Year to Protect Palestinian Activists
As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement
Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff’s unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Graham leads bipartisan demand for tech reform vote to ‘bring social media companies to heel’
Schumer accuses Trump admin of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ amid document dispute

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

See also  These members of Congress will leave their jobs (mostly) voluntarily

Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump admin targets Maduro’s inner circle, family
Fox News Poll: Views on the year ending are merriest since 2020
Veteran Aussie Cop’s Shot Targeting Hannukah Mass Murderer Being Called ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Takedown, But Was It?
Cynthia Lummis becomes 11th senator to walk away from upper chamber in 2026
Epstein files explode open as DOJ details discovery of powerful figures and more than 1,200 victims
DOJ publishes trove of Epstein files, says more to come after Friday deadline
Trump has light-bulb moment as he announces on the fly he will pressure insurance companies into 80% price cuts
Rubio crusades for Western civilization, warning European mass migration could threaten future of NATO
Must See: Jibbering Dem Sen Plunges Into Sheer Panic as FCC Chair Brendan Carr Produces Letter Senator Once Wrote and Is Desperate to Keep Quiet
House Republican Considering Plan to Expel Ilhan Omar from Congress
Bombshell Claim: Brown University Was Asked to Cut Cameras Earlier in the Year to Protect Palestinian Activists
As illicit vapes flood the country, authorities ramp up enforcement
Florida cold case breakthroughs: Sheriff’s unit cracks two long-unsolved killings
Graham leads bipartisan demand for tech reform vote to ‘bring social media companies to heel’
Schumer accuses Trump admin of Epstein files ‘cover-up’ amid document dispute

“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