--- title: "Trump Throws His Weight Behind Flock Cameras" description: "Trump gave a ringing endorsement for the surveillance company Flock, despite it being deeply unpopular with Americans." date: "2026-09-14" modified: "2026-09-14" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/future-society/trump-backs-flock-cameras" categories: - "Future Society" - "Privacy" --- # Trump Throws His Weight Behind Flock Cameras ![A photo illustration of president Donald Trump and a Flock camera pole.]() *Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images / Futurism* President Donald Trump continues to push the boundaries of what it means to be out-of-touch after he gave a ringing endorsement for Flock Safety, the deeply unpopular surveillance company behind a national network of AI-powered cameras and license plate scanners. His reasons for backing the firm, however, weren't particularly illuminating, "I sort of like them because of that, because of law enforcement, but some people don't," Trump, told reporters on Sunday, sagaciously. "They think it's an infringement," he added, apparently speaking of Flock's critics. "I like them." The comments are the first from Trump publicly endorsing Flock, [according to the *Washington Post*.]() As recently as last month, the president had been more reticent about the tech, refusing to give a straight answer when asked for his opinion. Flock has become a political landmine in the past year, as more Americans become alarmed over having a powerful, centralized surveillance network suddenly appear in their communities with little public oversight. Much attention has focused on how its over 120,000 cameras, which Flock frames as for strictly enforcing traffic laws and catching crime, are being abused. A [recent *WaPo* investigation]() found over fifty cases of police officers misusing Flock cameras and similar systems, including to stalk women. And Flock systems have either malfunctioned or been improperly used and caused innocent people — [including a journalist]() — to be swarmed by armed cops. Such is the revulsion the company inspires that a grand jury in Ohio [refused to indict]() a man who was caught destroying a Flock pole, despite surveillance footage clearly catching him in the act. Trump's endorsement is swooping in, in other words, while the company's reputation is at its absolute nadir. Last month, its CEO Garrett Langley was forced to [make a public apology]() after the *WaPo* investigation documented how its systems were frequently abused. Later, he insisted that his company was "not Big Brother," before trying to reason with his critics by [calling]() for a "compromise" between privacy and safety. For Trump to be throwing his weight behind it now, without any perfunctory appeals to safety or concerns for Americans' privacy, is quintessentially Trump, epitomizing how he has long abandoned any care for public opinion. (His [full-throated support for data centers](), which are even more unpopular than Flock, serve as a similar example.) Even his Republican allies have taken a more cautious stance. Last month, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said the cameras are "out of control," adding that he didn't want "to have this become a surveillance state," *WaPo* noted. **More on privacy:** [*Police Investigator Accused of Making Over 4,000 Illegal Flock Camera Searches*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()