FBI Misuses Surveillance Authorities to Investigate BLM Protesters After George Floyd Killing
A declassified May 2023 ruling by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court found that the FBI had improperly used national security surveillance authorities to query the communications of Black Lives Matter protesters and individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, targeting people engaged in constitutionally protected activities.
Following the May 2020 killing of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that ensued, the FBI conducted broad surveillance of Black Lives Matter demonstrators. A declassified FISA Court opinion released in May 2023 found that the FBI had conducted tens of thousands of improper queries of NSA surveillance data, including queries targeting individuals involved in the 2020 BLM protests and the January 6, 2021 Capitol events — in violation of the court's rules restricting such searches to foreign intelligence or criminal purposes. The Associated Press reported in 2021 that federal prosecutors had pursued aggressive criminal charges against BLM-affiliated protesters in what the Movement for Black Lives described as an attempt to disrupt and discourage the movement. The FISA Court opinion cited specific instances in which FBI agents queried protesters' communications without proper justification, finding the bureau had 'not taken adequate measures' to ensure queries were lawful.