Twitter’s digital violence against protestors must be stopped.

Dear John.

Black organizers should not become enemies of the state for protesting.

Demand Twitter immediately stop facilitating government surveillance against Black activists and organizers.

Take Action

Twitter developer Dataminr - a company that Twitter gives special access to user data - is keeping the spirit of J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO alive by helping law enforcement track protestors' whereabouts and actions.1,2 Under COINTELPRO members of the Black Panther Party and notable Black activists, such as Dr. King and Malcolm X, were targeted and “neutralized” by an extensive government surveillance program meant to disrupt and destroy Black liberation movements through tactics that included assassination, imprisonment, public humiliation, or false criminal charges.3

Sadly, today's Black activists and organizers face similar coordinated efforts by law enforcement to disrupt our movements for justice, except now police have high-tech tools and data from companies like Twitter at their disposal to help harass, imprison, and bring false criminal charges against Black activists. History is sadly repeating itself because Twitter is allowing surveillance companies like Dataminr to send information about Black activists directly to the same law enforcement agencies provoking violence and targeting protestors.

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SIGN THE PETITION: Demand Twitter ban any developer engaged in surveillance of protestors from the platform. 

In 2016, thanks to the organizing of Color Of Change, MediaJustice, and the ACLU of Northern California, Twitter instituted policies meant to prohibit developers from helping law enforcement surveil Black activists. Yet, Dataminr has found a workaround to this policy, claiming they are just providing law enforcement with “news alerts.” No matter how Dataminr frames it, sending Twitter information containing the location, names, Twitter handles, and other identifying information about activists to law enforcement is surveillance. 

Passing this information to law enforcement has life-altering and even deadly results for Black activists. Historically, Black movement leaders have been unconstitutionally targeted, attacked, jailed, or even killed in their efforts to confront racism, police brutality, and police violence. Twitter’s surveillance policy is falling short of preventing harm to Black activists. 

SIGN THE PETITION: Demand that Twitter immediately stops its affiliate Dataminr from facilitating government surveillance against Black activists and organizers. 

Sixty years ago in Birmingham, there were fire hoses and dogs.4 Six years ago in Ferguson, it was tanks and armored trucks.5 Today, it’s tanks, tear gas, and advanced surveillance and tracking technology: facial recognition cameras, StingRay devices that trick nearby cell phones and steal data, automated license plate readers, and high-altitude spy planes and drones fitted with night vision and infrared sensors.6 The list of insidious tools deployed to identify, track, entrap, and arrest protestors are staggering—and still growing. Most recently, in Portland, OR, federal law enforcement are using unmarked cars to detain protestors with no explanation of why they are being arrested, and then driving off.7 The last thing our communities need is for Twitter, the platform that bills itself as the platform for organizing protests and standing up for #BlackLivesMatter, to make it easier for law enforcement to harm us and our movements. 

John, we have a right to protest murders at the hands of police and a justice system that continues to fail us without police tracking our every movement. Twitter has vocally supported the movement for Black lives and spoken out against law enforcement using Twitter to surveil us. It is time for Twitter to live up to the promise they made to us in 2016 to never allow developers to assist law enforcement to surveil our communities.  

SIGN THE PETITION: Demand that Twitter’s developer Dataminr immediately stop facilitating government surveillance against Black activists and organizers.

Until justice is real,

--Jade, Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Jade, Amanda, Marie, Eesha, Samantha, Marcus, FolaSade, Jennette, Cierra and the rest of the Color Of Change team

References:

  1. “Fear of a Black Homeland: The Strange Tale of the FBI’s Fictional ‘Black Identity Extremism’ Movement,” March 23, 2019, The Intercept, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/137438?t=9&akid=44183%2E4731121%2E9kyEme.
  2. “Police Surveilled George Floyd Protests With Help From Twitter-affiliated Startup Dataminr,” The Intercept, July 9, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/255911?t=11&akid=44183%2E4731121%2E9kyEme.
  3. “J. Edgar Hoover’s Revenge: Information the FBI Once Hoped Could Destroy Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Has Been Declassified,” The Conversation, May 30, 2019, http://act.colorofchange.org/go/174011?t=13&akid=44183%2E4731121%2E9kyEme.
  4. “The Rage Unifying Boomers and Gen Z,” The Atlantic, June 18, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/255912?t=15&akid=44183%2E4731121%2E9kyEme.
  5. “Ferguson Police's Show of Force Highlights Militarization of America's Cops,” ABCNews, April 14, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/255913?t=17&akid=44183%2E4731121%2E9kyEme.
  6. “How to Spot Police Surveillance Tools,” Popular Mechanics, June 12, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/255914?t=19&akid=44183%2E4731121%2E9kyEme.
  7. “Federal Law Enforcement Use Unmarked Vehicles To Grab Protesters Off Portland Streets,” OPB, July 17, 2020, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/255915?t=21&akid=44183%2E4731121%2E9kyEme.

Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please help keep our movement strong.

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