Trump administration may monitor social media to catch disability fraud (updated)

[Bulletin: Just because you can monitor facebook doesn’t mean it will be relevant. And the targeting of people receiving disability benefits instead of other groups could be discrimination. What about tax monitoring? Drunk driving? Could this happen in Canada?] Find article: engt.co/2TGv0sV

 

While Republicans love the Trump administration proposal, disability rights advocates are worried that Facebook photos could be an inaccurate barometer of a person’s current physical state. “Just because someone posted a photograph of them golfing or going fishing in February of 2019 does not mean that the activity occurred in 2019,” chairwoman of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Lisa D. Ekman told the Times. …

Stalking people’s Facebook and Twitter has been a popular strategy throughout Trump’s time in office. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the Department of Homeland Security, has ramped up social media surveillance of both Americans and foreign visitors. The US Border Patrol was found to be compiling a database of journalists, activists, and other social media influencers involved in work related to the migrant caravan. The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Northern California is currently suing the Trump administration for information related to its social media surveillance.