Facebook Monitors and Tracks Users It Deems a Threat

Facebook monitors and tracks the locations of its users when the company deems them to be a threat on its social network, according to a report from CNBC.

It’s unclear exactly who determines what is a threat or what criteria a threat has to meet to be credible. But threats can land a user on the “Be On the Lookout” or BOLO list. Even vague complaints, such as “Fuck you, Mark Zuckerberg,” could be used as a reason to track a user, the report said. People are not notified when they have been placed on the BOLO list and are specifically tracked.

The tracking is done by using location data taken from the user’s facebook app or IP addresses collected by the company when a user is active on the website.

In the past, the company has used the spying technology to catch interns playing hooky. They said they working from home, but were actually out on a camping trip. Reportedly, the location data didn’t turn up anything of value, so Facebook went further and scanned through the interns’ personal messages. The social media spokesman justified the invasion of privacy by saying, “there was legit concern about the safety of these individuals.”

 

 

Image: “Facebook Tracking Red” by Anarchimedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0