Ring ad backlash lays bare mass surveillance and tech power
Feb 22nd 2026
A Super Bowl spot for Amazon Ring reignited debate over consumer cameras and corporate surveillance, prompting Ring to scrap a deal with Flock Safety and spotlighting how home devices and AI tools feed law enforcement and immigration agencies.
- Consumer cameras and AI tools can be used for both solving crimes and broad, continuous public surveillance.
- Amazon Ring pulled a planned partnership with Flock Safety after public backlash over a Super Bowl ad showing neighborhood camera coordination.
- Flock Safety sells license plate readers, gunshot detectors, drones and people-tracking software used in about 5,000 US communities.
- Leaked records and reporting show some local agencies share camera feeds and metadata with federal agencies including ICE and Border Patrol.
- Legal challenges to warrantless mass surveillance have largely failed even as companies frame themselves as neutral data brokers.
- Public trust in Big Tech is low and privacy practices, grassroots resistance and community-based responses are growing