Following the death of former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, the FBI has pushed to heavily monitor social media platforms for any threats made against CEOs. The assessment, dated February 19th, is titled “Heightened Threat to Chief Executive Officers Following the Shooting of a Healthcare Senior Executive” and aims to label the increasing outrage against corporations (most notably UnitedHealthcare and Tesla) as terrorism.
The document was obtained via the Freedom of Information Act by nonprofit organization Property of the People. “If the government truly cares about preventing death and suffering, perhaps tax dollars should be spent on healthcare for the people instead of mass surveillance and security for wealthy executives,” PotP executive director Ryan Shapiro told journalist Ken Klippenstein.
The assessment claims that there has been a significant spike in threats made against CEOs since Brian Thompson was allegedly shot and killed by Luigi Mangione. A NYPD threat report released the month of the shooting stated concerns that “extremists may view Mangione as an example to follow.”
The FBI assessment displays similar concerns, saying, “This rhetoric has displayed an elevated threat of violence to executives and highlighted a need for increased situational awareness among private sector partners.” It also adds that social media threats have risen across all sectors and industries.
FBI Director Kash Patel stated during his swearing-in that the FBI will carry out “the world’s largest manhunt” against “anyone that wishes to do harm to our way of life.” The director also recently announced a crackdown on the recent vandalism of Tesla vehicles, again labeling it terrorism.
A post on Twitter/X that was included in the assessment as an example of the threats read, “I’ll shoot the CEO of [U.S. company] before I pay that light bill,” quote tweeting an image of a house covered in very bright Christmas lights. The company, Con Edison, was hidden in the document, and the post had zero likes and one retweet.
Another example from the document read, “On 10 December 2024, a social media user’s post threatened healthcare CEOs and referenced Thompson’s homicide. The post stated, ‘copycat killers identified,’ and named the CEOs of multiple major U.S. healthcare companies.” The post was very clearly stating that the healthcare CEOs are killers due to all of the Americans who die from lack of coverage.
