Group tracked anti-lockdown activists, not Floyd protesters

FPI / June 5, 2020

When some 400 anti-lockdown activists gathered in Michigan's capital in April to protest the state government's draconian coronavirus orders, a progressive advocacy group was reportedly tracking them via their mobile devices.

The group has not collected similar data on George Floyd protesters.

The Committee to Protect Medicare and Affordable Care, under the direction of former Democratic congressional candidate Dr. Rob Davidson, used cell phone data generated by an application called VoteMap to track the movements of the Lansing anti-lockdown rally’s attendees after they departed from the capital, according to The Detroit News.

The data was then allegedly used to map out exactly where the attendees traveled after leaving Lansing.

Davidson said he witnessed the attendees “scatter across the state,” even tracking some of them as far as Indiana.

"The progressive group did not seem to be interested in generating similar results from the wave of protesters moving through three major cities in Michigan" following the death of George Floyd, The Daily Caller noted.

More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Lansing on May 31 at the same location of the demonstrations protesting Gov. Gretchen Whtimer's coronavirus orders. There was no indication of location tracking at the May 31 protest, The Detroit News noted.

The American Patriots Rally in late April was a protest in response to Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s regulations on people and businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak. Whitmer, whose state is under lockdown until June 12, banned the sale of items such as garden hoses, vegetable seeds and furniture, according to Forbes.

Phil Robinson, the leader of a Michigan militia group, said his liberties were infringed by Davidson’s group, claiming such data collection should be “illegal.”

“I’d have still shown up, but I would have left my phone at home. I wouldn’t have gone live on Facebook,” Robinson told The Detroit News.

Free Press International