FBI gets hit by X community notes on post claiming compliance with FISA

A post from the FBI on social media platform X became the subject of a community note that undercut its claims to comply with Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The post featured footage of FBI Director Christopher Wray claiming that bureau reforms had resulted in high rates of compliance with FISA.

"Those reforms are working. The FISA court itself, most recently, found 98% compliance and commented on the reforms working," he said. "The most recent Justice Department report found the reforms working, 99% compliance." 

Below the footage, however, was a community note state that "[t]he FBI violated American citizens' 4A rights 278,000 times with illegal, unauthorized FISA 702 searches."

Substantiating the note was a link to The Hill which highlighted a now-public court order that revealed the bureau misused a critical surveillance tool authorized by Section 702 hundreds of thousands of times.

In July of 2023, the order revealed that the FBI had improperly accessed the Section 702 database more than 278,000 times since its creation. The database includes materials compiled to aid in foreign intelligence surveillance. The database, however, may only be accessed under limited circumstances.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.