According to a CNBC report, Facebook monitors and tracks the location of its users as soon as the company's security team discovers threats are occurring on the social network.
As such, the company actively monitors the platform for threatening comments, the report said. This could all include a non-specific threat and location on Facebook or even a direct threat to specific people. Then Facebook itself determines whether a threat from a user is credible, and the company uses data from its products to track the location of the person in question.
The report says that everything is done through location data obtained through the user's own app or even an IP address collected by the social network when the user is active on Facebook. CNBC says users' locations can only be accessed after being placed on a "Keep an eye out" list after threats are found to be credible. But, it is not clear who makes such a determination.
CNBC says that some specific threats may lead the user to the threat list. But, a "Fuck you, Mark Zuckerberg" can also be used to track a user.
"Our physical security team exists to keep Facebook employees safe," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC. "They use industry-standard measures to assess and address credible threats of violence against our employees and our company, and escalate those threats to law enforcement when necessary. We have rigorous processes designed to protect people's privacy and comply with all privacy laws of data and Facebook's terms of service. Any suggestion that our physical security team has gone beyond is absolutely false."
In some cases, the Facebook team may contact the authorities to expose the situation.
Facebook, in one example, used the technology to track a group of interns who claimed to be working from home but were on a camping trip. According to a Facebook employee, the idea was just to know if they were safe, however, they ended up finding out that they didn't plan to work that day.
Certainly more a privacy issue involving Facebook and its users.
Source: The Verge
