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April 16th, 2024 | 11:49 AM ET

The Clash over Social Media Data

Posted: July 24th, 2016

The clash between the tech industry and the federal government over data access has become an enduring part of the national narrative about countering violent extremism. On one side, there are those who argue that, as along as proper legal procedures are followed, the government should have access to people’s data in order for security purposes. On the other side are those who say that civil liberties, including privacy and protection from unreasonable searches, take precedent.

This issue had another flare up in early May of 2016, when it was reported that Dataminr –a firm which monitors the entirety of Twitter’s feed in order to find information on breaking events – would cease to offer its services to the U.S. intelligence community (IC). This sparked a new debate about both government access, and the extent to which social media data, which is nominally public, is open to federal inspection. Dataminr declined to comment when contacted for more information by The Cipher Brief.

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