[2] The term was coined in a 2012 paper written by Sir David Omand, Jamie Bartlett and Carl Miller for the Centre for the Analysis of Social Media, at the London-based think tank, Demos.
Particularly targeting the youth, they run a "Cyber Scout" program where participants are rewarded for reporting individuals posting material perceived as detrimental to the monarchy.
[6] In Egypt, a leaked 2014 call for tender from the Ministry of Interior reveals efforts to procure a social media monitoring system to identify leading figures and prevent protests before they occur.
[6] In the United States, ZeroFOX faced criticism for sharing a report with Baltimore officials showcasing how their social media monitoring tool could track riots following Freddie Gray's funeral.
"[6] In the UK, the Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland emphasized the significance of social media in intelligence gathering during anti-fracking protests in 2011.
Social media analysis closely monitored protests against the badger cull in 2013, with a 2013 report revealing a team of 17 officers in the National Domestic Extremism Unit scanning public tweets, YouTube videos, Facebook profiles, and other online content from UK citizens.
[6] During the 2016 United States presidential election, the Senate Intelligence Committee released reports containing information about Russia’s use of troll farms to mislead black voters about voting.
[11][12] In September of 2023, the Philadelphia Police Department began using social media to track and stay one step ahead of criminal activity to stop meetups and potential robberies.
By analyzing publicly available data from social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, police can track criminal activities, identify suspects, and even prevent potential crimes before they occur.