LAPD's mass collection of social media data alarms activists: 'This is like stop and frisk'

The Los Angeles Police Department has reportedly instructed its officers to record the social media information of every interviewed civilian — even those "who are not arrested or accused of a crime," The Guardian reports, according to records obtained by the Brennan Center for Justice.

What's more, an internal memo shows Police Chief Michael Moore warning officers that supervisors would review their "field interview cards" — the paper on which the social accounts, among other things, are disclosed — to ensure they were complete. Such broad scale collection has alarmed activists and civil liberties pundits, concerned about the "potential for mass surveillance of civilians without justification," writes the Guardian.

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Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.