Discussion

• @jesselehrich Jesse Lehrich on x

  Facebook is already turning over users' private data to aid abortion prosecutions. this is a huge deal. https://www.forbes.com/... https://twitter.com/...

• @0liviajulianna @0liviajulianna on x

  Every woman should delete Facebook right now. #DeleteFacebook https://twitter.com/...

• @culturecrave @culturecrave on x

  DeleteFacebook is trending because Facebook gave Nebraska police a teen's DMs so they could prosecute her for having an abortion https://twitter.com/...

• @kevincollier Kevin Collier on x

  This case, where Facebook turned over chats of a Nebraska woman charged with giving her then-underaged daughter abortion pills, is exactly the kind that experts have warned we'd see in a post-Roe world. https://www.nbcnews.com/...

• @greg_price11 Greg Price on x

  A mother performed an abortion on her 23-week pregnant daughter at home. They burned and buried the body. They then talked about the horrific crime they committed over Facebook dms, which were obtained by a search warrant. This is how the liars in the media frame the story. https…

• @seyiakiwowo Seyi Akiwowo on x

  🧵 Facebook and #RoevWade In June I said how Tech companies respond to #RoeVsWade will be crucial not just for women's rights but the right to privacy. Tech companies can make it difficult for data to be shared with courts/prosecution but facebook did not https://www.nbcnews.com/.…

• @metanewsroom @metanewsroom on x

  Much of the reporting about Meta's role in a criminal case against a mother and daughter in Nebraska is plain wrong. We want to take the opportunity to set the record straight. https://about.fb.com/...

• @kevincollier Kevin Collier on x

  Police didn't start their investigation with a sweeping subpoena for pregnancy metadata. They got a tip, then proceeded to get a warrant for six smartphones and seven computers. Knowing the two chatted on Facebook, cops got a warrant for that too. https://www.nbcnews.com/... http…

• @andymstone Andy Stone on x

  The warrants concerned charges related to a criminal investigation and court documents indicate that police at the time were investigating the case of a stillborn baby who was burned and buried, not a decision to have an abortion.

• @matthew_d_green Matthew Green on x

  This got non-theoretical pretty fast. https://twitter.com/...

• @dangillmor Dan Gillmor on x

  Facebook's conduct here is disgraceful. It should have challenged the search warrant. https://twitter.com/...

• @dinabass Dina Bass on x

  So 3. this may not tell us how Meta plans to respond to warrants seeking information related to a possible abortion but 4. it certainly raises questions about how law enforcement will use this data and 5. reminds us lots of social media, search, other data can be sought and used

• @evan_greer Evan Greer on x

  There are ways for platforms to mitigate harm and abuse while still protecting users' communications with end-to-end encryption. iMessage & WhatsApp have been end-to-end encrypted by default for years. We need to stop the fearmongering about encryption before it gets people hurt

• @maxkennerly Max Kennerly on x

  Strange how all those Republicans who claim to be very upset about Big Tech and 4th Amendment violations have absolutely nothing to say about a prosecutor going fishing for medical information in private FB messages, a court agreeing, and Facebook obliging without objection. http…

• @evan_greer Evan Greer on x

  Basically, any company that offers private messaging of any kind that could conceivably be used by someone to communicate about abortion access or reproductive health care should be implementing default end-to-end encryption on all messaging, by default. Yesterday.

• @matthew_d_green Matthew Green on x

  Sure would be a good time for Apple to start encrypting those iCloud backups.

• @adamsessler @adamsessler on x

  Hey if you still use this service , still work there or accept their ads, maybe don't. They've gone full kapo. https://twitter.com/...

• @dinabass Dina Bass on x

  1. the events in question took place before Roe was overturned. 2. The warrant didn't mention abortion, but it was related to a series of alleged felonies including illegal burial of a stillborn baby — abortion charges were added later based on what was in the private messages

• @evan_greer Evan Greer on x

  Apple should fully encrypt iCloud, and enable RCS support on iMessage so that iPhone and Android users can more easily send each other end to end encrypted text messages by default. This single change would protect billions of people right away. Stop delaying. No excuses. Do it.

• @kevincollier Kevin Collier on x

  Facebook has dodged request for comment all day. But it complies with warrants. And that mother and daughter may have intended their chat to be private, but they weren't specifically end-to-end encrypted on the Facebook Messenger app, so they're fair game if a court signs off.

• @markhughesfilms Mark Hughes on x

  Delete your #Facebook. They're giving private data to cops in forced-birth states that want to investigate anyone (even CHILDREN) who might seek abortions. I hope there are huge lawsuits against Facebook + @TheDemocrats investigating & DOJ prosecution. #DeleteFacebook https://twi…

• @maxwinebach Max Weinbach on x

  By the way, RCS isn't a full platform. Apple could pick and choose what to implement. Add typing indicators and E2EE for person to person, maybe the ability to leave a group chat. It's not like SMS groupchats on iOS right now have E2EE either. P2P with RCS would.

• @jessicavalenti Jessica Valenti on x

  Really important info on the teenager charged in Nebraska: All the police knew was that she had a stillbirth & buried the remains. *That's* what they used that to get her FB messages. Since when are people mandated to report a pregnancy ending? https://www.vice.com/...

• @esqueer_ Alejandra Caraballo on x

  Facebook could have enabled end-to-end encryption of messages by default on all messenger chats, similar to Signal but that would mean they lose out on valuable data for targeted advertising. They sold out your privacy for ad revenue.

• @ebakerwhite Emily Baker-White on x

  Update: it felt really weird that FB waited 24 hours before commenting on this story! Turns out they were under a gag order. Gag orders like this aren't new, but their use in this post-Roe world will become ever more important. https://twitter.com/...

• @billscher Bill Scher on x

  Not seeing a lot of “if they can do it to...” reactions from Republicans about this https://twitter.com/...

• @greg_price11 Greg Price on x

  Two people murdered a fully formed baby at their house, burned and buried the evidence, had their dms seized via search warrant, are not being charged for an abortion itself but with “removing, concealing or abandoning a dead human body.” This is how the media is framing it. http…

• @david_ingram David Ingram on x

  @andymstone These seem like important details. Is Meta planning any changes to how it reviews warrants in the future, in case law enforcement tries to do a bait-and-switch in an abortion case?

• @greg_price11 Greg Price on x

  This is how news outlets decided to headline the story of a mother who killed her daughter's 23-week-old baby at their house, burned and buried the body, talked about it in Facebook dms, had them seized by a search warrant, and were charged with multiple crimes for it. https://tw…

• @kevincollier Kevin Collier on x

  To be clear, this investigation started before Roe was overturned. But it's precisely the framework experts have been harping on for how LE/the justice system approaches these kinds of cases.

• @swopes Elise on x

  ⚠️ Download Signal and Telegram!!! Do not have important conversations in non-encrypted messaging apps! 💔 FBI cannot subpoena secure messages https://twitter.com/...

• @evan_greer Evan Greer on x

  Companies have been dragging their feet on implementing end-to-end encryption largely due to disingenuous pressure from global law enforcement agencies who want the ability to conduct total surveillance of everything we do online, and want backdoors in all messaging services.

• @laurenarankin Lauren Rankin on x

  This is awful but unsurprising. Mark Zuckerberg has proven that he has absolutely no concern for anyone's privacy or safety. PLEASE don't message anyone about self-managed abortion on social media networks. Here's a digital security tip sheet: https://www.eff.org/... https://twit…

• @evan_greer Evan Greer on x

  More recently, even some progressive advocates have misguidedly pressured platforms like Instagram against implementing end-to-end encryption, claiming it will undermine platforms ability to address harm and abuse. This is wrong, and these groups need to stop.

• @symonedsanders Symone D. Sanders-Townsend on x

  Remember when folks said some of us were being dramatic? We weren't. This is terrifying. https://twitter.com/...

• @kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x

  Of course this raises many questions about how Meta will respond if and when the search warrant is specifically related to abortion-related medical procedures. Would the response to the search warrant been different if that had been the case?

• @datadrivenmd @datadrivenmd on x

  In June I called several Congressional members' offices to urge them to prevent against consumer data being used to prosecute persons seeking abortions. Those calls were never returned, and no action was taken. Now, this: https://twitter.com/...

• @blackamazon @blackamazon on x

  Like I'm in a mean place but, yes experts even ones I don't like were told Were asked to create pathways to build, to ease user questions and communications . And conveyed this openly Everyone shocked is just emphasizing how little we've listened for years https://twitter.com/...

• @wiseoldduck @wiseoldduck on x

  @matthew_d_green This is illustrative, but FWIW this case was brought from before the Dobbs ruling, under Nebraska's 20-week cutoff that was already law under Roe

• @mindyd11 Mindy D on x

  @David_Ingram @andymstone I'm not sure the details are all that important. Investigating a stillbirth - it really doesn't take much thought to realize what that may mean, especially from a local sheriff in Indiana

• @daveleeft Dave Lee on x

  Meta responds to story about it handing over data in an abortion case. Says it was not aware it was about abortion — warrant referenced an alleged “Illegal burning and burial of a stillborn infant” https://twitter.com/...

• @andymstone Andy Stone on x

  A statement from Meta on this case. “Nothing in the valid warrants we received from local law enforcement in early June, prior to the Supreme Court decision, mentioned abortion. https://twitter.com/...

• @andymstone Andy Stone on x

  Both of these warrants were originally accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing any information about them. The orders have now been lifted."

• @jjvincent James Vincent on x

  Meta's response to reporting on this has been very revealing. As usual, the company has said it's “correcting the record” by noting that the search warrant it received didn't mention abortion at all. This is completely irrelevant https://about.fb.com/...

• @metanewsroom @metanewsroom on x

  Court documents indicate that police were at that time investigating the alleged illegal burning and burial of a stillborn infant. The warrants were accompanied by non-disclosure orders, which prevented us from sharing information about them. The orders have now been lifted.

• @metanewsroom @metanewsroom on x

  We received valid legal warrants from local law enforcement on June 7, before the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The warrants did not mention abortion at all.

• @chriswelch Chris Welch on x

  This entire “correcting the record” post is just two paragraphs. https://twitter.com/...

• @daveleeft Dave Lee on x

  Not sure it's correct for Meta to call Vice's reporting “plain wrong”. I don't see any factual errors. Am sure Meta didn't like the framing but that's another matter.

• @dellcam Dell Cameron on x

  If it hasn't already, Meta is going to get a warrant, it's going to comply, and somebody is going to get arrested for discussing abortion pills. The only responsible action - which is conveniently also the one that would help it save face later on - would be to warn people. https…