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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.


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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.


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“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.

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“That’s extremely troubling.”


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

See also  When purity politics runs its course: Even the most strident DSA politicians must learn to compromise

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Ilhan Omar’s daughters show up at scene of DC raid as rumors swirl about embattled rep’s whereabouts
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Putin wants Xi at the Ukraine negotiating table with Trump. Here’s why
NY cop calls for police protections after protester he arrested showed up to his house, harassed his family
Madison Brooks rape suspect’s attorney held in contempt for using her name to try to ban pink in courtroom
Zelenskyy Holds Closed-Door Meeting with U.S. Senators, Urges Them to Turn Up the Heat on Trump
Breaking: Social Security Administration Cleans Up Records, Correctly Marks Millions as Deceased
Latest US-Ukraine tensions could determine these battleground races
French PM says far-left groups forged ‘insurrectionary plan’ against government
Italy sending hundreds of soldiers into Milan to quell days of violent riots
Bruce Blakeman hammers Dem Gov Hochul, Mamdani over subway safety during NYC campaign ride
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“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.

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