FBI Seeks To Monitor Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, And Other Social Media Accounts For Violent Threats

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) issued on July 8th a Request For Proposals (RFP) seeking quotes from technology companies to build a "Social Media Alerting" tool, which would enable the FBI to monitor in real-time accounts in several social media services for violence threats. The RFP, which was amended on August 7th, stated:

"The purpose of this procurement is to acquire the services of a company to proactively identify and reactively monitor threats to the United States and its interests through a means of online sources. A subscription to this service shall grant the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) access to tools that will allow for the exploitation of lawfully collected/acquired data from social media platforms that will be stored, vetted and formatted by a vendor... This synopsis and solicitation is being issued as Request for Proposal (RFP) number DJF194750PR0000369 and... This announcement is supplemented by a detailed RFP Notice, an SF-33 document, an accompanying Statement of Objectives (SOO) and associated FBI documents..."

"Proactively identify" suggests the usage of software algorithms or artificial intelligence (AI). And, the vendor selected will archive the collected data for an undisclosed period of time. The RFP also stated:

"Background: The use of social media platforms, by terrorist groups, domestic threats, foreign intelligence services, and criminal organizations to further their illegal activity creates a demonstrated need for tools to properly identify the activity and react appropriately. With increased use of social media platforms by subjects of current FBI investigations and individuals that pose a threat to the United States, it is critical to obtain a service which will allow the FBI to identify relevant information from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other Social media platforms in a timely fashion. Consequently, the FBI needs near real time access to a full range of social media exchanges..."

For context, in 2016 the FBI attempted to force Apple Computer to build "backdoor software" to unclock an alleged terrorist's iPhone in California. The FBI later found an offshore technology company to build its backdoor.

The documents indicate that the FBI wants its staff to use the tool at both headquarters and field-office locations globally, and with mobile devices. The SOO document stated:

"FBI personnel are deployed internationally and sometimes in areas of press censorship. A social media exploitation tool with international reach and paired with a strong language translation capability, can become crucial to their operations and more importantly their safety. The functions of most value to these individuals is early notification, broad international reach, instant translation, and the mobility of the needed capability."

The SOO also explained the data elements too be collected:

"3.3.2.2.1 Obtain the full social media profile of persons-of-interest and their affiliation to any organization or groups through the corroboration of multiple social media sources... Items of interest in this context are social networks, user IDs, emails, IP addresses and telephone numbers, along with likely additional account with similar IDs or aliases... Any connectivity between aliases and their relationship must be identifiable through active link analysis mapping..."
"3.3.3.2.1 Online media is monitored based on location, determined by the users’ delineation or the import of overlays from existing maps (neighborhood, city, county, state or country). These must allow for customization as AOR sometimes cross state or county lines..."

While the document mentioned "user IDs" and didn't mention passwords, the implication seems clear that the FBI wants both in order to access and monitor in real-time social media accounts. And, the "other Social Media platforms" statement raises questions. What is the full list of specific services that refers to? Why list only the three largest platforms by name?

As this FBI project proceeds, let's hope that the full list of social sites includes 8Chan, Reddit, Stormfront, and similar others. Why? In a study released in November of 2018, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) found:

"Right-wing extremism in the United States appears to be growing. The number of terrorist attacks by far-right perpetrators rose over the past decade, more than quadrupling between 2016 and 2017. The recent pipe bombs and the October 27, 2018, synagogue attack in Pittsburgh are symptomatic of this trend. U.S. federal and local agencies need to quickly double down to counter this threat. There has also been a rise in far-right attacks in Europe, jumping 43 percent between 2016 and 2017... Of particular concern are white supremacists and anti-government extremists, such as militia groups and so-called sovereign citizens interested in plotting attacks against government, racial, religious, and political targets in the United States... There also is a continuing threat from extremists inspired by the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. But the number of attacks from right-wing extremists since 2014 has been greater than attacks from Islamic extremists. With the rising trend in right-wing extremism, U.S. federal and local agencies need to shift some of their focus and intelligence resources to penetrating far-right networks and preventing future attacks. To be clear, the terms “right-wing extremists” and “left-wing extremists” do not correspond to political parties in the United States..."

The CSIS study also noted:

"... right-wing terrorism commonly refers to the use or threat of violence by sub-national or non-state entities whose goals may include racial, ethnic, or religious supremacy; opposition to government authority; and the end of practices like abortion... Left-wing terrorism, on the other hand, refers to the use or threat of violence by sub-national or non-state entities that oppose capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism; focus on environmental or animal rights issues; espouse pro-communist or pro-socialist beliefs; or support a decentralized sociopolitical system like anarchism."

Terrorism is terrorism. All of it needs to be prosecuted including left-, right-, domestic, and foreign. (This prosecutor is doing the right thing.) It seems wise to monitor the platform where suspects congregate.

This project also raises questions about the effectiveness of monitoring social media? Will this really works. Digital Trends reported:

"Companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon already use algorithms to predict your interests, your behaviors, and crucially, what you like to buy. Sometimes, an algorithm can get your personality right – like when Spotify somehow manages to put together a playlist full of new music you love. In theory, companies could use the same technology to flag potential shooters... But preventing mass shootings before they happen raises thorny legal questions: how do you determine if someone is just angry online rather than someone who could actually carry out a shooting? Can you arrest someone if a computer thinks they’ll eventually become a shooter?"

Some social media users have already experienced inaccuracies (failures?) when sites present irrelevant advertisements and/or political party messaging based upon supposedly accurate software algorithms. The Digital Trends article also dug deeper:

"A Twitter spokesperson wouldn’t say much directly about Trump’s proposal, but did tell Digital Trends that the company suspended 166,513 accounts connected to the promotion of terrorism during the second half of 2018... Twitter also frequently works to help facilitate investigations when authorities request information – but the company largely avoids proactively flagging banned accounts (or the people behind them) to those same authorities. Even if they did, that would mean flagging 166,513 people to the FBI – far more people than the agency could ever investigate."

Then, there is the problem of the content by users in social media posts:

"Even if someone does post to social media immediately before they decide to unleash violence, it’s often not something that would trip up either Twitter or Facebook’s policies. The man who killed three people at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California posted to Instagram from the event itself – once calling the food served there “overprices” and a second that told people to read a 19th-century pro-fascist book that’s popular with white nationalists."

Also, Amazon got caught up in the hosting mess with 8Chan. So, there is more news to come.

Last, this blog post explored the problems with emotion recognition by facial-recognition software. Let's hope this FBI project is not a waste of taxpayer's hard-earned money.