Five hours after Charlie Kirk was shot this week, an Atlanta man got a phone call from an Illinois police officer asking about a photo he shared with a couple of close friends on a private Discord chat. The Atlanta man, who asked not to be identified, says the post was merely a confirmation that he had purchased the same T-shirt that the accused killer wore (from an Illinois-based online shop).

Social media companies are generally forbidden by law from divulging users’ private communications to the government without a traditional legal process (e.g., court order). But there’s an exception: in perceived emergencies, social media platforms can proactively and “voluntarily” hand over private messages in response to what’s called an “emergency disclosure request” (EDR).

Discord, I am told, did not respond to any EDR here; but when I asked them directly if they’d provided law enforcement with information to traditional legal process, they declined to respond on-record.

The FBI, or the intelligence community, evidently is monitoring Discord private messaging, even from people who have broken no law.

Full blown Orwellian world. Run for local government and stop this shit.

The largest populated areas are left leaning. If they ae controlled by democratic socialist, we can restrict this shit. Just by pure numbers.

  • herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml
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    17 hours ago

    As a Turkish citizen, this gives me a sense of deja-vu. America is going through the same crackdowns on freedoms we experienced 25 years ago.

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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        2 hours ago

        One thing that happened was that the Turkish leader Erdogan, visited Trump during his first administration, and after the meeting, Erdogan’s security force attacked people who were legally protesting. A visiting head-of-state’s private security came to America and beat-up legal protesters on American soil - and the Trump administration did nothing.

        • herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml
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          7 hours ago

          Kurds have been Erdoğan’a greatest friends over the years. When Erdoğan called for a referendum in 2010 to abolish the independent judiciary (the infamous “yetmez ama evet” referandum), support from Kurdish nationalists was critical for Erdoğan’s victory.