Throughout 2026, rumors related to surveillance companies — in particular Flock Safety — gained momentum online as license-plate reading cameras and other tracking technology appeared in cities across the U.S.
Snopes has reported on claims related to such surveillance technology for years, covering its use by agencies and nations such as ICE and Israel, as well as U.S. legislation that could affect future surveillance.
We've investigated various claims as people across social media reacted to cameras appearing in their towns, neighborhoods and even Home Depot parking lots. As part of our fact-checking, we debunked misidentified footage purportedly showing someone destroying Flock cameras — though we noted a growing movement against surveillance technology expansion. According to DeFlock, a site used to track such cameras using a crowdsourced map, there were more than 131,772 cameras in view across the U.S. as of this writing — including approximately 108,000 Flock cameras.
Critics of AI-powered surveillance technology have also pointed to purported cases of misuse, such as when a Tennessee woman spent six months in jail after an AI tool misidentified her and when a Texas deputy tapped into a network of more than 83,000 Flock cameras to find a woman who had an abortion.
Below are eight claims related to Flock cameras and other forms of surveillance technology that we've investigated:
