The Mall of America reportedly used a fake account to Facebook-stalk activists
Oppressive governments are not the only ones who can use social media to keep tabs on protesters. According to a report by The Intercept, the famous Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, has been using a fake Facebook account for years to keep an eye on any plans made by activists to stage demonstrations at the mall.
According to the report, the Mall of America delivered a batch of files to Bloomington authorities with detailed dossiers on participants of a December demonstration of Black Lives Matter. Much of the information in the files apparently came from a fictitious Facebook user by the name of Nikki Larson.
Metadata from the files linked the reports to former Mall of America Intelligence Analyst Sam Root, and a Google reverse image search of the Nikki Larson profile showed its picture came from a woman who is friends with Root on Facebook. Larson’s Facebook profile had existed since 2009, but after The Intercept contacted the Mall of America regarding the account, it was suddenly removed from Facebook.
“We do track conversations that may pose a security concern”
Jordan Kushner, an attorney representing one of the December activists charged with a misdemeanor, says he finds the mall’s tactics “disturbing.” “We don’t like the idea of large corporations spying on people for their political activity,” Kushner said.
The Mall of America has yet to comment on the Nikki Larson account specifically, but it said in a statement that it does not monitor people based on political activity. “We do not follow individuals or groups based on political viewpoints; however, we do track conversations that may pose a security concern,” the statement says. “These conversations may include unauthorized illegal protests, potential criminal activity or harmful acts on Mall of America property. For obvious reasons, we don’t go into detail about all of those security measures.”
The Mall of America has been criticized for overzealous security in the past, and a 2011 article by NPR detailed several examples of patrons being detained and questioned by mall security for “suspicious” activities, such as writing in a notebook and shopping.
photo credit: goodwood spy via photopin (license)
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