The LAPD has instructed officers to gather social media information from civilians during stops, even if they are not arrested or accused of a crime.
Cops will ask for and record social media accounts to use as part of “investigations, arrests, and prosecutions.” The information collected will also serve to map a person’s whereabouts.
According to The Guardian, a report from the Brennan Center for Justice reviewed internal documents and found that the LAPD’s 2015 Social Media User’s Guide “encourages social media monitoring but has issued little guidance and imposed minimal oversight over officers’ surveillance on social media platforms.”
Officers were authorized to notate someone’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media accounts while filling out basic biographical information.
The Brennan Center for Justice says this practice could promote unlawful mass surveillance without justification and civil liberties concerns.
