Folks, your government monitoring you is nothing new. They do it all the time in the name of protecting your “safety” and our “democracy.” But in Canada, they will apparently come to your door and not be bashful about admitting to you that they are, in fact, monitoring your social media activity.
A video posted to Twitter that is quickly going viral shows an Ontario Provincial Police officer visiting a resident’s home to give her information on what constitutes a peaceful protest. But this officer wasn’t going door to door.
The officer admits in the video that because of the resident’s liking of and posting to anti-mandate groups on Facebook, she was paying her a visit to give the previously mentioned information.
“Are you guys now monitoring people’s Facebook pages, or Facebook groups, to who comments as to what their status updates are or what they’re doing within the group?” the resident asked.
“Because of the protests happening province-wide, yes we have been monitoring the protests, okay?” the officer responded. “So there’s a protest coming up. I’m simply providing you with information about a peaceful protest, and now I’m leaving.”
Related: WATCH: Freedom Convoy Protesters Push Back Against Media Narratives
“So the Ontario Provincial Police are watching what people are doing on Facebook in different groups, whether or not they’re commenting, participating, liking, and you guys are now doing service calls to give people information about peaceful protest?” the resident followed up.
“Yeah, it’s just a proactive measure to make sure you understand your rights about peaceful protesting,” the officer said.
While the officer was polite, and probably just doing what was asked of her, she didn’t seem to be able to grasp the magnitude of the government paying people visits because of what they might say, like or follow on social media.
OPP Officer in Ontario pays visit to personal residence after noting she commented on anti mandate protest. Admits to monitoring online activity. pic.twitter.com/NG2SZwgGX9
— Unacceptable Rowan (@canmericanized) February 11, 2022
I understand the term “slippery slope” has been deemed cliche or whatever else. But, governments doing things like this make it seem like we’re in the middle of the slide rather than waiting to begin the figurative journey down it.