BIG BROTHER

FBI Improperly Surveilled BLM Protesters, Capitol Rioters With Post-9/11 Tool

The department leveraged a powerful tool that’s supposed to be used for uncovering evidence of crime and foreign influence.

Newly unsealed court documents reveal the FBI improperly used a powerful database created post-9/11 to surveil Black Lives Matter protesters, Capitol rioters and donors to a congressional campaign, among others. Agents are only supposed to use the Section 702 database—a searchable inventory that includes private electronic communications—when they reasonably suspect it will shed light on foreign intelligence or criminal activity. But, according to The Washington Post, Justice Department officials found that the FBI leveraged the tool 278,000 times in recent years against groups including BLM demonstrators and Capitol rioters with scant evidence to support its use. In one case, the Bureau snooped on over 19,000 donors to a congressional campaign, but only turned up eight results with ties to foreign influence. The FBI also heavily targeted victims, witnesses and suspects in police homicide reports, according to the court documents.