Facebook, Twitter and Instagram [part of Facebook] have previously provided users’ data to a software company that aids police surveillance programs and targets protesters of color, according to government records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU revealed on Tuesday that the technology corporations gave “special access” to Geofeedia, a controversial social media monitoring company that partners with law enforcement and has marketed its services as a tool to track Black Lives Matter activists...The ACLU’s past records requests in California have determined that at least 13 police agencies have used or acquired Geofeedia, a Chicago-based startup that has worked with law enforcement across the US...Shortly after the release of the report on Tuesday, Twitter said it was “immediately suspending” Geofeedia’s commercial access to its data...

A spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told the Guardian in a statement that Geofeedia “only had access to data that people chose to make public”, adding, “If a developer uses our APIs in a way that has not been authorized, we will take swift action to stop them and we will end our relationship altogether if necessary.” A Twitter spokesperson noted that the company prohibits the sale of user data for surveillance and has a “developer policy” that bans the use of its data to “to investigate, track or surveil Twitter users”. Geofeedia CEO Phil Harris did not address the specific allegations in a statement on Tuesday, but said the company “is committed to the principles of personal privacy” and has “clear policies and guidelines to prevent the inappropriate use of our software”. “That said, we understand, given the ever-changing nature of digital technology, that we must continue to work to build on these critical protections of civil rights,” he added.