FBI agents recently told an Oklahoma woman, confronted at her door, that the bureau sends agents to question Americans about their social media posts “all day long” in an “effort to keep everybody safe.”
Stillwater resident Rolla Abdeljawad took a video of her conversation, later posted on X by her attorney Hassan Shibly, with the agents, who arrived at her home last week.
The video shows them telling her that Facebook submitted screenshots of her posts to the agency.
Ms. Abdeljawad told them she didn’t want to speak to them without her lawyer and demanded they show their FBI credentials, but they refused.
She later wrote on Facebook that she confirmed with local police that the men who appeared at her home were indeed FBI agents, reported Fox News.
“Facebook gave us a couple of screenshots of your account,” one agent said in the video.
Ms. Abdeljawad responded, “So we no longer live in a free country, and we can’t say what we want?”
“No, we totally do,” the other agent replied. “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.”
The woman then responded, “All I’ve done is exercise my right as an American citizen on a public social media platform with my personal opinions.”
The FBI defended its actions in a statement to The Washington Times, saying, “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.”
Although the agents didn’t specify what Ms. Abdeljawad said on the internet to warrant their visit, she did post statements recently discussing her exasperation with the Hamas-Israel war. In one post, she called Israel “Israhell.”
“Israhelli terrorist filth,” she wrote. “They think Ramadan is a weakness for Muslims not realizing Ramadan is the strength. #FreePalestine May Allah destroy every single despicable zionist, their supporters and backers. Ameen.”
Her page was public, so the FBI could have seen her posts without getting screenshots from Facebook.
Last week, she warned fellow Muslims and others supporting Palestinians to be careful about the federal government surveilling them.
“Don’t fall for their games. Our community is being watched & they are just waiting for any reason to round us up,” she wrote.” If you’re Muslim and/or pro-pal consider all your media accounts, Google searches, mail, messenger, local mosques & political events monitored. #NYC #usa #PoliceState #FreePalestine.”
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has a policy to give law enforcement Facebook data following a court order, subpoena, search warrant or emergency involving “imminent harm to a child or risk of death or serious physical injury to any person.”
However, Ms. Abdeljawad posted that her attorney thinks the FBI didn’t receive the screenshots from Facebook.
“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.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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