Why are Facebook users checking in at Standing Rock?

(Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

published 1 November 2016

A huge virtual influx of people are checking in to a place called Standing Rock on Facebook, despite never having been there, in order to support protesters demonstrating against a new oil pipeline in North Dakota.

What's happening in North Dakota?

A group of Native Americans and environmental activists have been protesting against the North Dakota Access Pipeline for months. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation is half a mile below the proposed site, say the pipeline threatens sacred ancestral sites and a spill would pollute their water supplies. More than 140 people were arrested last Thursday as they tried to block construction.

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Why are people checking in to Standing Rock?

The Dakota pipeline: Native Americans vow to fight on

A post, which has gone viral on Facebook, claims that officials have been tracking protesters on the social network to find out who is at Standing Rock and disrupt their demonstration. It urged "everyone" to check-in at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to "overwhelm and confuse" investigators. Accordingly, sympathetic Facebook users have been checking in and spreading the message around the world.

Has it achieved anything?

The Morton County Sheriff's Department has issued a statement on Facebook to say that the original post is "absolutely false" and the department "does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location".

Nevertheless, some Native American activists still welcomed the check-ins as a form of support for the demonstration. A message from the Sacred Stone Camp, one of the groups protesting against the pipeline, said the Facebook post had not originated from them, but believed there was "no doubt that law enforcement comb social media for incriminating material and monitor communications".

They added: "We support the tactic, and think it is a great way to express solidarity... The check-ins have created a huge influx of media attention that we appreciate."