Checking in to Standing Rock probably won’t confuse police

A message is spreading virally across social media imploring Facebook users to “check-in” to Standing Rock where protestors are objecting to the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

The message purports that the police were using Facebook to monitor check-ins and that by asking thousands of social media users to check-in to the location, it would confuse and overwhelm the authorities, thus aiding the protestors. An example message can be seen below –

“The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps. SO Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock, ND to overwhelm and confuse them. This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our homes. Will you join me in Standing Rock?
If you’re sharing your location at Standing Stock:
1) Make it public.
2) Make the clarification post SEPARATE, and limit post visibility to your friends only.
3) Don’t clarify on your check-in post; privately message friends who say “stay safe!” to let them know what’s up.
4) Copy/paste to share clarification messages (like this one) because making it public blows our cover.
5) Use an alternate name in clarification posts so that when they filter out / search those terms, your post is visible to the right people.”

And while thousands of people have checked in to “Standing Rock”, there are two main issues with the message.

Firstly, the police department have already stated in no uncertain terms that they are aware of the messages spreading on social media and are not monitoring Facebook check-ins regarding this protest. And yes, they’re probably telling the truth (more on that below.)

Secondly, most people may not realise that – providing they have the recommended privacy settings applied – the police cannot see (and thus “monitor”) their check-in since it is would have the ‘friends only’ setting applied. It is likely that most people have simply not made the check-in public, and many versions of the message fail to explain to readers that it would need to be public (the version above, however, does explain that.)

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The Morton County Sheriff Department have tweeted regarding the rumour –

In response to the latest rumor / false claim circulating on social media we have the following response:
The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is not and does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location. This claim / rumor is absolutely false.

It is likely that this is true. While Facebook check-ins can – on occasion – help police determine if someone was at a specific location, the feature isn’t prolifically used by authorities since
1. Checking into a location is voluntary, and thus if someone didn’t want the authorities to know they were there, it isn’t likely they’d voluntarily check-in to that location, limiting the effectiveness of the feature.
2. Just like with this instance, you don’t need to by physically at a location to check-in to it.

There is simply no evidence or reasoning that would support the claim that multiple check-ins would have any substantial effect on the authorities ability to monitor the protest at Standing Rock.

With that said, some have claimed they are only checking in to show their support, and while protest organizers have stated that the viral request did not originate from them, they appreciate the “gesture of solidarity”.

The legal defence fund donation page for the cause to protect The Camp of the Sacred Stones has already surpassed $1million at the time of writing and you can donate here.