A woman in Stillwater, Oklahoma, said FBI agents came to her home to question her about her online activity after Facebook gave them screenshots of her posts.
The woman, identified as Rolla Abdeljawad, was confronted by the agents about the posts. Following the incident, her lawyer, Hassan Shibly, shared a video clip of the encounter, Reason reported Friday.
“FBI visit the home of an American Muslim Woman’s home to question her about her pro-Palestine social media posts after they were flagged by @meta’s @Facebook!” the video’s caption read:
WATCH: FBI visit the home of an American Muslim Woman’s home to question her about her pro-Palestine social media posts after they were flagged by @meta’s @facebook!
What she did right:
1. Refuse to speak to them without a lawyer.
2. Refuse to let them in her house.
3. Record… pic.twitter.com/VLgAjV5fY8— Hassan Shibly (@HassanShibly) March 28, 2024
When one agent told her thatFacebook gave them screenshots from her profile, she said, “So we no longer live in a free country and we can’t say what we want?”
“No, we totally do. That’s why we’re not here to arrest you or anything. We do this every day, all day long. It’s just an effort to keep everybody safe and make sure nobody has any ill will,” another agent at the scene commented.
In a social media post on Thursday, Abdeljawad said she had verified with local law enforcement the group was actually FBI after checking their license plate. She added that her lawyer was going to contact the OKC field office.
“The lawyer did inform me that, these instances are now common but, the lawyer doesn’t believe that FB sent them the screenshots of my posts. Rather, it seems like a fishing expedition,” she wrote:
The woman’s Facebook profile features posts commenting about the war in Gaza, according to Reason. Abdeljawad said in one post on Wednesday, “Israhelli terrorist filth. They think Ramadan is a weakness for Muslims not, realizing Ramadan is the strength. #FreePalestine May Allah destroy every single despicable zionist, their supporters and backers. Ameen”:
Per the Reason report:
Meta’s official policy is to hand over Facebook data to U.S. law enforcement in response to a court order, a subpoena, a search warrant, or an emergency situation involving “imminent harm to a child or risk of death or serious physical injury to any person.” The company received 73,956 requests from U.S. law enforcement and handed over data 87.84 percent of the time in the first half of 2023, according to the Meta website.
On March 14, Breitbart News reported that “claiming it is targeting the growing threat of violent extremism, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have established mechanisms to share information and coordinate with gaming companies and social media platforms, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.”
The situation has ignited concerns about constitutional and legal problems regarding citizens’ right to free speech, the outlet said.
