Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to contribute to the field of media imperialism by evaluating Meta’s role in the US state–corporate surveillance complex. Using a case study approach, the author analyses Meta’s transparency report alongside US Government oversight documents and supporting materials. Meta’s report reveals that, in the last six months of 2023, the US Government requested data on nearly 160,000 users. The report also shows that data requests have increased over 30-fold in the past decade. The author contextualizes these findings within the legal and historical framework of data requests, highlighting substantial abuses by US national security agencies, and finds that the US Government has integrated Meta into its surveillance complex through data requests based on FISA Section 702 and National Security Letter statutes. This connection between Meta’s commercial surveillance and the US Government’s geopolitical surveillance creates critical privacy and security risks for users.

Keywords

Facebook media imperialism Meta state–corporate surveillance complex surveillance transparency

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU, 2007) National security letters. Available at: https://www.aclu.org/documents/national-security-letters-foia (accessed 11 January 2024).

American Civil Liberties Union ([ACLU, 2011) National security letters. Available at: https://www.aclu.org/documents/national-security-letters (accessed 11 January 2024).

Ampuja

Koivisto

Nordenstreng

(2020) Historicizing and theorizing media and cultural imperialism. In: Boyd-Barrett

Mirrlees

(eds) Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 31–45.

Ball

(2013) NSA’s prism surveillance program: How it works and what it can do. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/08/nsa-prism-server-collection-facebook-google (accessed 4 January 2024).

Barret

Rimmer

Foran

(2024) Senate passes surveillance bill despite contentious debate over privacy concerns. CNN Politics. Available at: https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/19/politics/fisa-senate-negotiations/index.html (accessed 22 April 2024).

Bing

Schectman

(2024) Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to incite fear of China vaccines. Available at: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/ (accessed 14 March 2025).

Boyd-Barrett

(2015) Media Imperialism. London: Sage.

Boyd-Barrett

(2020) RussiaGate and Propaganda Disinformation in the Age of Social Media. London: Routledge.

Boyd-Barrett

Marmura

(eds) (2023) Russiagate Revisited: The Aftermath of a Hoax. Chichester: Palgrave Macmillan.

10.

Boyd-Barrett

Mirrlees

(2020a) Introduction: Media imperialism: Continuity and change. In: Boyd-Barrett

Mirrlees

(eds) Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1–10.

11.

Boyd-Barrett

Mirrlees

(eds) (2020b) Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

12.

Brennan Center for Justice (2024) The FISA Expansion Turning Cable Installers into Spies Cannot Stand. Brennan Center for Justice. Available at: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/fisa-expansion-turning-cable-installers-spies-cannot-stand (accessed 8 January 2025).

13.

CBS News (2024). Biden signs bill reauthorizing contentious FISA surveillance program. CBS News. Available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-signs-bill-reauthorizing-fisa-surveillance-program-section-702/ (accessed 22 April 2024).

14.

Creswell

David Creswell

(2018) Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 4th edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

15.

Davis

(2023) What is Netflix imperialism? Interrogating the monopoly aspirations of the ‘world’s largest television network’. Information, Communication & Society 26(6): 1143–1158. DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2021.1993955.

16.

Dixon

(2024) Biggest social media platforms by users 2024. Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/ (accessed 14 March 2025).

17.

Doyle

(2015) National Security Letters in Foreign Intelligence Investigations: Legal Background. Congressional Research Service. Available at: https://sgp.fas.org/crs/intel/RS22406.pdf (accessed 11 January 2025).

18.

Electronic Frontier Foundation (nd) National Security Letters. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters (accessed 11 January 2024).

19.

Esposito

, et al. (2014) Exclusive: Snowden docs reveal UK spies snooped on YouTube, Facebook. NBC News. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/exclusive-snowden-docs-reveal-uk-spies-snooped-youtube-facebook-n17381 (accessed 18 December 2024).

20.

FISA Amendments Act (2008) 50 U.S. Code § 1881a – Procedures for Targeting Certain Persons Outside the United States Other than United States Persons. Legal Information Institute. Available at: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1881a (accessed 2 January 2025).

21.

Foster

McChesney

(2014) Surveillance capitalism: Monopoly-finance capital, the military–industrial complex, and the digital age. Monthly Review 66(3): 1. DOI: 10.14452/MR-066-03-2014-07_1.

22.

Gellman

(2013) NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say. The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html (accessed 2 January 2024).

23.

Goitein

(2023) Protecting Americans from warrantless surveillance. Brennan Center for Justice. Available at: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/protecting-americans-warrantless-surveillance (accessed 2 January 2025).

24.

Government Communications Headquarters and NBC News (2014a) 20140127-NBC-Squeaky Dolphin. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/document/20140127-nbc-squeaky-dolphin (accessed 17 December 2024).

25.

Government Communications Headquarters and NBC News (2014b) 20140207-Nbc-GCHQ honey trap cyber attack_background on JTRIG. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/document/20140207-nbc-gchq-honey-trap-cyber-attackbackground-jtrig (accessed 18 December 2024).

26.

Government Communications Headquarters and NBC News (2014c) 20140207-Nbc-GCHQ honey trap cyber attack_leveraging foreign journalists via JTRIG. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/document/20140207-nbc-gchq-honey-trap-cyber-attackleveraging-foreign-journalists-jtrig (accessed 12 January 2025).

27.

Greenwald

(2014) No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State. New York, NY: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt.

28.

Greenwald

(2017) XKeyscore: NSA tool collects ‘nearly everything a user does on the internet’. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data (accessed 17 December 2024).

29.

Greenwald

MacAskill

(2013) NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data (accessed 26 January 2022).

30.

Greenwald

Gallagher

(2014) How the NSA plans to infect ‘millions’ of computers with malware. The Intercept. Available at: https://theintercept.com/2014/03/12/nsa-plans-infect-millions-computers-malware/ (accessed 17 December 2024).

31.

House Judiciary Committee (2024) Final report: The weaponization of the federal government | House judiciary committee republicans. Available at: http://judiciary.house.gov/media/press-releases/final-report-weaponization-federal-government (accessed 14 March 2025).

32.

Hovyadinov

(2019) Toward a more meaningful transparency: Examining Twitter, Google, and Facebook’s transparency reporting and removal practices in Russia. DOI: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3535671.

33.

Jin

(2015) Digital Platforms, Imperialism and Political Culture. London: Routledge.

34.

Jin

(2017) Rise of platform imperialism in the networked Korean society: A critical analysis of corporate sphere. Asiascape: Digital Asia 4(1): 209–232.

35.

Jin

(2020) Facebook’s platform imperialism: The economics and geopolitics of social media. In: Boyd-Barrett

Mirrlees

(eds) Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

36.

Kosta

Brewczyńska

(2020) Government access to user data: Towards more meaningful transparency reports. Social Science Research Network (SSRN) 28.

37.

Lee

Proffitt

(2023) Netflix in South Korea: Patron of creativity or imperialistic conqueror? In: Ferchaud

Proffitt

(eds) Television’s Streaming Wars. London: Routledge.

38.

MacAskill

(2013) NSA paid millions to cover prism compliance costs for tech companies. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/nsa-prism-costs-tech-companies-paid (accessed 4 January 2024).

39.

Maté

(2025) FBI still hiding key russiagate details, newly released document shows. Aaron Maté, 6 January.

40.

Meta (2013) Meta Platforms, Inc. | Form 10-K | FY 2013. Meta Investor Relations. Available at: https://investor.atmeta.com/financials/ (accessed 11 January 2025).

41.

Meta (2024a) Meta Platforms, Inc. | Form 10-K | FY 2023. Meta Investor Relations. Available at: https://investor.atmeta.com/financials/ (accessed 11 January 2025).

42.

Meta (2024b) Privacy policy: What is the privacy policy and what does it cover? Meta | Privacy Center. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/ (accessed 11 January 2025).

43.

Meta (2025a) Meta Platforms, Inc. | Form 10-K | FY 2024. Meta Investor Relations. Available at: https://investor.atmeta.com/financials/ (accessed 11 January 2025).

44.

Meta (2025b) Terms of Service | Overview. Meta | Terms of Service. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/preview/ (accessed 11 January 2025).

45.

Meta (nd-a) Government Requests for User Data | Further Asked Questions. Meta | Transparency Center. Available at: https://transparency.meta.com/reports/government-data-requests/further-asked-questions/ (accessed 24 November 2024).

46.

Meta (nd-b) Transparency Reports. Meta | Transparency Center. Available at: https://transparency.meta.com/reports/ (accessed 24 November 2024).

47.

Mirrlees

(2020) ‘Weaponizing’ the internet and world wide web for empire: Platforming capitalism, data-veillance, public diplomacy, and cyberwarfare. In: Boyd-Barrett

Mirrlees

(eds) Media Imperialism: Continuity and Change. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 213–233.

48.

National Security Agency (2013a) 20130731-Guard-Xkeyscore training slides. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/document/2013-07-31-guard-xkeyscore-training-slides (accessed 17 December 2024).

49.

National Security Agency (2013b) 20130710-Wapo-Upstream. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/document/2013-07-10-wapo-upstream (accessed 8 January 2024).

50.

National Security Agency (2013c) 20130823-Guard-Prism payments. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/document/20130823-guard-prism-payments (accessed 4 January 2024).

51.

National Security Agency (2013d) 20131022-Monde-Prism April 2013. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available at: https://www.eff.org/document/prism-april-2013 (accessed 4 January 2024).

52.

The New York Times (2013) A barrage of data requests. The New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/06/17/technology/company-data-requests.html (accessed 2 January 2024).

53.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (2023) Annual statistical transparency report regarding the intelligence community’s use of national security surveillance authorities: calendar year 2022. Office of the Director of National Intelligence | Reports & Publications 2023. Available at: https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/reports-publications-2023/3688-statistical-transparency-report-regarding-national-security-authorities-calendar-year-2022 (accessed 12 January 2025).

54.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (2024) Annual statistical transparency report regarding the intelligence community’s use of national security surveillance authorities: Calendar year 2023. Office of the Director of National Intelligence | Reports & Publications 2024. Available at: https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/reports-publications-2024/3811-annual-statistical-transparency-report-regarding-national-security-authorities-calendar-year-2023 (accessed 12 January 2025).

55.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (nd) SECTION 702 OVERVIEW. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Resource Library. Available at: https://www.dni.gov/files/icotr/Section702-Basics-Infographic.pdf (accessed 8 January 2025).

56.

Park

Kim

Lee

(2023) Theorizing the Korean Wave | Netflix and platform imperialism: How Netflix alters the ecology of the Korean TV drama industry. International Journal of Communication 17: 72–91.

57.

The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (2023). Report On the Surveillance Program Operated Pursuant to Section 702 Of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: 18 September. Oversight Reports. Available at: https://documents.pclob.gov/prod/Documents/OversightReport/e9e72454-4156-49b9-961a-855706216063/2023%20PCLOB%20702%20Report%20(002).pdf#page=156 (accessed 8 January 2025).

58.

Rushe

(2013) Facebook and Google insist they did not know of prism surveillance program. The Guardian, 7 June.

59.

SCOTUSblog (nd) Murthy v. Missouri. SCOTUSblog. Available at: https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/murthy-v-missouri-3/ (accessed 14 March 2025).

60.

Snowden

(2014) From the comments: Edward Snowden zingers. Ideas.Ted.Com . Available at: https://ideas.ted.com/from-the-comments-edward-snowden-zingers/ (accessed 8 January 2025).

61.

Stake

(1995) The Art of Case Study Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

62.

Timberg

(2013) NSA slide shows surveillance of undersea cables. The Washington Post. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-nsa-slide-you-havent-seen/2013/07/10/32801426-e8e6-11e2-aa9f-c03a72e2d342_story.html (accessed 4 January 2024).

63.

Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research (2024) Hyper-imperialism: A dangerous decadent new stage. Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. Available at: https://thetricontinental.org/studies-on-contemporary-dilemmas-4-hyper-imperialism/ (accessed 29 December 2024).

64.

United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (2022) FISC memorandum opinion and order, 21 April. INTEL.Gov. Available at: https://www.intelligence.gov/assets/documents/702%20Documents/declassified/21/2021_FISC_Certification_Opinion.pdf#page=49 (accessed 8 January 2025).

65.

Urman

Makhortykh

(2023) How transparent are transparency reports? Comparative analysis of transparency reporting across online platforms. Telecommunications Policy 47(3): 102477. DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2022.102477.

66.

Woolery

Budish

Bankston

(2016) The transparency reporting toolkit: Best practices for reporting on U.S. government requests for user information. Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society Scholarly Articles. Available at: https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/28552578 (accessed 29 December 2024).

67.

Wylie

(2019) Mindf*ck: Inside Cambridge Analytica’s Plot to Break the World. New York, NY: Random House.

68.

Yin

(2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 4th edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Meta (Facebook) and US national security data requests: A study in media imperialism

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References