FBI agents have been recorded during a home visit to a Stillwater resident, admitting that scrutinizing Americans over their social media activities is a daily operation, Reason.com has confirmed.
Rolla Abdeljawad, an Oklahoma resident, encountered three FBI agents at her doorstep, inquiring about her Facebook posts.
Abdeljawad’s lawyer, Hassan Shibly, took to social media to post a video of the interaction. The video, which surfaced online on Wednesday, portrays a tense exchange.
In the video, Abdeljawad declines to speak with the agents and requests that they show their badges on camera, a request the agents did not fulfill. Abdeljawad later verified with local police that the individuals were indeed FBI agents.
“Facebook gave us a couple of screenshots of your account,” one agent, donned in a gray shirt, informed Abdeljawad.
Challenging the agents, Abdeljawad questioned the principles of free speech, to which a second agent, clothed in a red shirt, responded reassuringly yet revealed the frequency of such interrogations.
“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.”
Shibly expressed his concern, noting that this was the first instance he was aware of where Facebook’s parent company, Meta, might have preemptively reported posts to law enforcement.
The specific posts that drew the FBI’s attention are not clear, but Abdeljawad has recently expressed strong views on the conflict in Gaza, including inflammatory statements against Israel.
Abdeljawad’s Facebook timeline, which is public, has been filled with posts expressing her frustration with the situation in Gaza, using harsh language against Israel. Despite the nature of her posts, none explicitly called for violence.
Shibly wrote on Twitter:
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 the interaction.What she did wrong:
1. Exit her house. Do not let them in your house if they do not have a warrant but do not exit your house either.You have the right never to speak to the FBI without a lawyer.
If the FBI contact you contact us at http://MuslimLegal.com for help.
WATCH:
Following the visit, Abdeljawad took to Facebook to suggest that the approach by the FBI seemed more like a “fishing expedition” than a specific investigation. She emphasized her role as a Muslim to protect creation and stand for what she believes is right.
“Rather, it seems like a fishing expedition,” she wrote. “I do not fear them. My only concern as, I told the cop is that, someone in my state will do something or that they would and then use my posts in a malicious attempt to ‘smear’ me. Just *remember, I am a Muslim, an obligated protector of creation. I enjoin what is good and forbid what is wrong,” Abdeljawad wrote.
In a statement to Fox News and Reason, FBI’s Oklahoma City office spokeswoman, Kayla McCleery, asserted the FBI’s commitment to protecting Americans and upholding the Constitution, clarifying that investigations do not stem solely from First Amendment-protected activities.
“Every day, the FBI engages with members of the public in furtherance of our mission, which is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States. We can never open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity. The FBI is committed to ensuring our activities are conducted with a valid law enforcement or national security purpose, and uphold the constitutional rights of all Americans.”
Meta’s policy allows for data to be shared with U.S. law enforcement under specific legal circumstances.
“Meta responds to government requests for data in accordance with applicable law and our terms of service. Each and every request we receive is carefully reviewed for legal sufficiency and we may reject or require greater specificity on requests that appear overly broad or vague. The charts below provide data on the number of requests we received, the number of users/accounts requested, and the rate we complied with all or some of the government’s request,” according to its website.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that a leading opponent of the new China-owned corn mill in North Dakota received a home visit from local police and FBI agents after posting a paragraph from the Declaration of Independence on Facebook.
Here is what Jodi Carlson posted on Facebook that warranted a visit by the Stasi FBI.
“We have petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Depotism (oppressive absolute power), it is our right, OUR DUTY, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for our future Security.” (The word “their” (the people) replaced with “our”).”
On Friday, The Gateway Pundit also reported that the FBI visited a woman on February 22 and her family in Louisiana who had used social media to expose a man who allegedly ‘dumped her cousin’s body like trash’ and was released on probation.
“Basically the tweet about my cousins killer went viral. 8.3 million views. Elon Musk even put a ! Under it. The FBI agent went to my family in Louisiana. My family thought they were there to help since the monster only got probation after all he’s done. They were there about my tweet,” Kristin Martin told The Gateway Pundit.
“They wanted to see if I or anyone they know could have sent in a threat to judges. That was exactly the same reason they gave me for coming to my house,” she added.
