The US government may try to prosecute you for violating sites’ terms of service. But it won’t be handling its own actions the same way.
Instead, the government embraces fakery of all sorts, from fake colleges used to eject immigrants just trying to further their education to setting up fake drug stash houses to entrap people desperate to improve their personal financial situations. And then there’s the FBI’s 20 years of radicalizing people in terrorist stings where the government does all the conspiring and the “terrorists” it creates do all the jail time.
While it’s understood a certain amount of subterfuge is necessary to engage in law enforcement, social media services have made it clear not even the federal government is exempt from policies forbidding the creation of fake profiles. Not that it matters to the government. While it has considered this sort of behavior from mere citizens to be a criminal act, it treats willful violation of site policies as just another day at the office.
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Facebook has repeatedly warned government entities that their employees are subject to the same “real name” policies that apply to regular people who wish to use the service. These warnings have been constantly ignored, which is definitely the expected outcome, but one that ensures the federal government can’t pretend it didn’t know it was violating policies if it ever comes to the point where someone within the government is willing to do anything about these routine violations.
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This is complicated.
In one hand, law enforcement has to break the law at times to enforce it. A cop will need to speed to pull over another speeder. There needs to be barriers. There needs to be lines even law enforcement cannot cross. But sometimes law enforcement needs to break the law.
In this case, what if they’re impersonating a child to catch a predator? What if they’re undercover and need a fake account to pass as legit. There’s acceptable cases for fake profiles too.
Again, there needs to be boundaries and limits. But some is acceptable.
Also, who’s getting prosecuted for having a fake account? I think as long as your not scamming people your fine and not going to get in trouble with the feds.
Can’t the police do whatever they want?
In a society with functioning checks and balances, no they shouldn’t be able to. In real life, they drive 90mph past my home on a road posted as 40mph.
Im.pretty sure law enforcement aren’t subject to social media rules but I honestly can’t say that I care for it.
