A few weeks ago I spoke out at a city council meeting about Flock
The short version: 404 Media's Matthew Gault fought Flock in his own town, watched a camera get 'deFlocked,' then found out authorities are surveilling anti-Flock social posts.
Our Take
This is the whole rotten cycle in miniature: a council votes to install Flock cameras with little debate, a resident who actually covers surveillance for a living shows up to object, gets outvoted anyway, and then someone in town takes matters into their own hands and disables one of the cameras. That's not an endorsement of vandalism — it's a symptom of communities being told 'trust us' by vendors and officials who won't answer basic questions about data access, retention, or who's allowed to run a plate search.
The part that should worry every reader, regardless of how they feel about the cameras themselves, is the second half of Gault's reporting: agencies are apparently monitoring anti-Flock content on TikTok and Instagram. Think about that framing for a second. A network sold as a tool to catch stolen cars and Amber Alert suspects is being defended by watching the social media accounts of people criticizing it. That's not public safety, that's reputation management with a badge attached, and it's exactly the mission creep critics have warned about since day one.
Credit to 404 Media and Matthew Gault for reporting on his own backyard instead of just someone else's — it's a good reminder that this fight is hyperlocal, one council meeting at a time. Check our camera map to see what's already been installed near you, and if your town hasn't voted yet, get ahead of it with our take-action resources.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of 404 Media, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.