You Are Being Watched: Meet The Tool Monitoring Over 200 Social Platforms

In an era of increasing digital surveillance, understanding the tools used to monitor our online presence has never been more important. One such tool, SocialNet, developed by contractor ShadowDragon, has recently come to light as a comprehensive surveillance platform that law enforcement agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) use to monitor and analyze data from over 200 online platforms.

What is SocialNet?

SocialNet is a surveillance tool developed by ShadowDragon, giving OSINT (Open-source intelligence) professionals and governments tools to search and collect publicly available information across more than 200 websites, social networks, and online services simultaneously.

According to recent reporting by 404 Media, the tool creates comprehensive profiles of individuals by aggregating their digital footprints across various platforms, enabling analysts to map connections, track activities, and visualize relationships between people of interest.

Which Platforms Are Being Monitored?

The list of monitored platforms is extensive and includes:

Major social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bluesky
Messaging platforms: WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord
Content platforms: OnlyFans, JustForFans, TikTok
Payment services: PayPal, Cash App, BuyMeACoffee
Gaming platforms: Roblox, Chess.com
Demographic-specific sites: Black Planet
Special interest networks: FetLife, cigar review sites, hobby forums

This wide-ranging surveillance covers virtually every corner of the internet where people share information publicly. If the government wants to understand you and your movements online – there is a good chance ShadowDragon’s SocialNet can facilitate it.

Who Uses SocialNet?

According to government procurement records and FOIA documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), SocialNet is used by multiple U.S. government agencies, including:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
State Department
Department of Defense
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
Fish and Wildlife Service

ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division has been particularly identified as a user of SocialNet, with procurement records showing continued contracts as recently as February 2025.

How Does SocialNet Work?

ShadowDragon’s marketing materials reveal that SocialNet operates by:

Accepting basic identifiers like an email, phone number, username, or name
Searching across all monitored platforms for matching accounts
Compiling data into visual relationship maps showing connections between individuals
Tracking geographical information and infer movement patterns
Analyzing behavioral patterns and interests

The system performs searches in real-time when users request information, rather than maintaining a persistent database of all collected data.

Legal and Ethical Concerns

The widespread use of SocialNet raises significant privacy and legal concerns:

Many platforms whose data SocialNet accesses have told 404 Media that this type of data collection may violate their terms of service.
Companies including Pinterest, Cash App, Meta, Snap, LinkedIn, and Chess.com have stated that unauthorized scraping violates their policies.
Jeramie Scott, senior counsel at EPIC, describes SocialNet as part of an “unchecked surveillance ecosystem that lacks any meaningful transparency, oversight, or accountability.”

Protecting Your Digital Footprint

Given the extensive surveillance capabilities of tools like SocialNet, coupled with the lack of transparency, protecting your digital privacy has never been more crucial. Here are some steps you can take:

Audit your social media presence: Review what information about you is publicly accessible across all platforms.
Update privacy settings: Restrict access to your content to only trusted connections rather than making posts public.
Use secure messaging: Opt for end-to-end encrypted messaging services for sensitive communications.
Consider using Redact: Services like Redact.dev offer powerful tools to systematically remove your historical social media content, making it more difficult for surveillance systems to build a comprehensive profile of your digital life and real-world behavior.

Redact allows you to easily scan and delete old posts, photos, conversations and content across multiple platforms, significantly reducing your digital footprint and the data available to surveillance tools like SocialNet.

By regularly clearing your digital history while maintaining careful control over new content, you can take meaningful steps toward preserving your privacy in an age of expanding surveillance. Download Redact.dev an start deleting Facebook, Twitter/X, Reddit and Discord content for free.

Conclusion

As government agencies continue to expand their surveillance capabilities through tools like SocialNet, understanding and managing your digital footprint becomes an essential aspect of personal privacy.

SocialNet is sold as a tool to fight “bad guys” – while we trust the stated purpose of the software; who decides which “guys” are “bad” enough to warrant surveillance?

How does ShadowDragon ensure their customer’s are only using the software against these “bad guys”?

ShadowDragon’s privacy policy states “our Customers using the Tools are data controllers for User Content” – suggesting their customers have total discretion to define the scope and purpose of their investigations.

Cyble Research discovered an open ElasticSearch server with the alias ‘SocialNet’ in 2021. The server is hosted in China and owned by ChinaNet Shaanxi. The 4.4 billion datasets available on the server containing social media profiles, chat logs leaked passwords, information about people who have protested against the Chinese government, US government website data, phone numbers, and data about US politicians.

You cannot control how ShadowDragon or their customers operate, but you can make informed choices about your online presence and take practical steps to limit the information available about you.