I Discovered Who Is Really Funding the Anti-Flock Backlash

[music] Okay, in 2015, Jeffrey Epstein partnered with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to invest in a security tech startup called Reporty Homeland Security, now known as Carbon. Yes, Jeffrey Epstein and Israel is a part of this story as they usually are. Okay, so if you guys remember, at the end of my mini doc about Flock surveillance cameras, I was telling you guys about a hunch that I had that something more could be going on. Specifically, I was asking if all the viral anti-Flock content that is blowing up on the internet right now could have been potentially AstroTurfed to facilitate the buildout of an even bigger mass surveillance state. Well, let me tell you guys, I think I was onto something because boy, do I now have a few receipts. First off, quick recap, Flock Safety is this company that makes automated license plate readers, ALPRs as they're called, which are these AI-powered cameras that capture and analyze images of passing vehicles and they store these details like your car's location, date, time, many other things. And over the past 8 years, they've installed over 110,000 of these cameras across America. Most likely, you will find them in your neighborhood. And some are even alleging that these cameras, which they say only tracks cars, is also capable of facial recognition. And all of this data that's being collected is going into a massive national dragnet database. This is something that nobody voted for, nobody's asking for these things to be installed, so I believe the backlash is real. Let me be clear. Flock is in serious trouble after massive backlash. The reporting is that at least 53 cities have ended their contracts with the company so far, according to a July 22nd article from Futurism. But the part I'm suspicious about is this hyperfocus on one company when there are many others that make exactly the same kind of product. Check this out. I'm also excited to announce that we are working with another industry leader, Ubiquia, to turn streetlights into smart ALPR and live streaming cameras without having to add a single pole in the ground. This partnership accelerates deployments and turns existing infrastructure into intelligent interconnected tools for public safety. That's what they always say. They always tell us that it is for our safety, quote unquote public safety, and unfortunately, most of us fall for it every single time. That was, by the way, the CEO of Axon Enterprise. His name is Rick Smith. And Axon is this multi-billion-dollar company that makes things like police body cams, tasers, drones, in-car cameras, and also AI-powered cloud software for law enforcement, military, and enterprise security. And recently, in 2025, they announced that they are going to be expanding into what they call new fixed ALPR camera solutions and next-gen AI advancements, basically the same exact technology and products that Flock makes. Now, this is where the story starts to get interesting. When I was doing research putting together the mini doc, I noticed a bit of a pattern where city councils, facing public backlash, would say, "Okay, we hear you guys. We will cancel Flock only to then sign a new contract with Axon, including this example that you see here from Douglas County, which is the Denver area, where the sheriff's office voted to replace Flock cameras with a $22.8 million Axon system. Flock to Axon, that's what we call six in one, half a dozen in the other. Another example is Syracuse, New York. Quote, "The Syracuse Common Council on Monday voted to pass an agreement with Axon to install 26 new license plate readers. The five-year agreement, which comes at a cost of $422,000, goes into effect March 1st. The city presently works with Flock for the same technology, but city leaders expressed concerns about the collection and sharing of personal information under that arrangement. I've noticed probably about six or seven of these kinds of cases where cities are shifting from Flock to Axon that I know of so far. There are probably many more. So, the big question is, what is going on here? Well, let's talk about who owns Flock and who owns Axon. Okay, on one side, Flock, you have investment groups like Andreessen Horowitz. That is Marc Andreessen's group, the conehead guy. Further down the list, you see highlighted Founders Fund. That is Peter Thiel's group. Y Combinator below that. That is the group that used to be run by Sam Altman. And then on the other side, Axon, that is a public company that is 91% owned by institutional investors, BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street. That's the big three, and they are the top three shareholders of the company. I hope you guys are noticing a little bit of a pattern here. It's Silicon Valley technocrats on one side with Flock, and the other side, Wall Street bankers and finance. I think when people talk about the powers that be, {quote} {unquote}, whether you want to call it the deep state or the Illuminati or whatever, they often think that they're unified, okay? In many cases, they do have a similar shared goal, but at other times, there's a turf war going on in the background that doesn't get talked about a lot, and I think this might be one of those situations happening right now. Okay, almost every single piece of content that I've come across about mass surveillance specifically targets Flock, not necessarily the mass surveillance industrial complex as a whole. So, I thought, hmm, that is very interesting. Could it be a coincidence? Maybe. But then I saw MAGA influencers starting to get involved in the conversation here. Tim Pool is talking about how Flock cameras are really just AI law enforcement. They are building a system of evil to track normal everyday people. I honestly I couldn't agree more. But again, the target is specifically laser-focused on Flock. Matt Walsh just did a deep dive a couple days ago about Flock. And here is Eric Dantry, another MAGA mouthpiece account I would consider him, posting about Flock cameras being vandalized. You guys perhaps picking up what I'm putting out there? There's a bit of a pattern emerging. And then I came across this reporting from Tony Ortiz, a reporter from Texas, who claimed, quote, "At least two influencers he's spoken to have been approached with offers of money in exchange for posting negatively about Flock cameras on X." So now it's not just a theory. We're talking about a possible paid influencer campaign. Weird, to say the least. And then this morning, as I was putting this piece together, I saw that Tim Burchett announced that he's going to propose a bill to block Flock cameras. Let's take a listen. Hey everybody, Tim Burchett. Um I've proposed legislation. Here's the bill to um eliminate federal funding and federal agencies purchasing those Flock cameras. I find it pretty disgusting. Um They're pretty draconian, and you can look that up if you want to know what that means. Well, given everything that's happened in the past few years, few decades quite honestly, I think most of us do know what draconian means, but of course I think the big question that we have to ask is is he against Flock cameras or is he against mass surveillance in general? I don't know for sure yet. But here's something that we do know for sure about all of this is that Donald Trump earlier this year invested millions of dollars into Axon Enterprise. My spidey senses are tingling, right? Could we be seeing some kind of mass eye up against Flock, basically creating public backlash against one specific company, the city council goes, "Okay, no more Flock." The people are like, "Hell yeah, we got them." They start to tune out and that's when they quietly sign a new deal with Axon. And then this next part is an absolute doozy. Okay, in 2015 Jeffrey Epstein partnered with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to invest in a security tech startup called Reporty Homeland Security, now known as Carbon. Yes, Jeffrey Epstein and Israel is a part of this story as they usually are. Because guess who owns Carbon now? That's right, Axon. November 2025, Axon bought Carbon as part of their {quote} new 911 network push. This new $625 million buyout of the emergency dispatch and communications tech firm is meant to help Axon craft a public safety ecosystem. Again, there is that buzzword, public safety. This is crazy, is it not? Epstein could have made $100 million on secret police tech investment. Former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Barak helped the convicted sex offender quietly invest $1 million in a police tech startup in 2015. Its founder said the company, which is set to be acquired by Axon for $625 million, wasn't aware of Epstein's involvement. Sure. I think you're thinking of it like this. Flock on one side represents this new wave of technocratic elites, the Marc Andreessens, Peter Thiels, and Sam Altmans of the world who are in many ways now starting to control and decide what the rules of engagement are. And on the other side, you have Axon, which is kind of like the old guard, BlackRock, Wall Street, Epstein, Trump, who are saying, "Wait a minute, not so fast. We still want to rule over the world the way we used to." So, is Flock being maybe set up as the public fall guy as they all shift to a different master surveillance company? That is the theory that I'm presenting. But, I think regardless of whether or not all of this is just a huge coincidence or not, the key takeaway for all of us has to be that we can't get hung up on Flock or any other individual company, but we have to fight against mass surveillance as a whole. That's the dig for today. Let me know what you guys think. Am I on to something with this theory? Sound off in the comment section below. And just to reiterate, again, I am against Flock. I support people fighting against that company, but I also do think that we need to be aware of other actors like Axon as well. You can support my journalism by going over to my website 5149jameslee.com. Sign up to become a member. There's also an option to give a one-time donation. No subscription necessary. Or you can buy some merch as well. But if not, no worries at all. This information will always be free. Just do me a big favor and share this video. Hype it. Give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel. Turn on uh on that notification bell so you can be the first to know when my next video drops. As always, thank you so much for your time and I will see you in the next one. I think what people are afraid of is the potential for a mass surveillance state. Once it's in place and the scope keeps creeping, or a national emergency comes in, then all of a sudden the rules change and something that's we were told came into our communities for one reason is now used for a much more draconian reason. I don't believe that what what a Flock camera is is invasive. I got kind of freaked out at the beginning where you're like, "This is what it's like to feel your privacy invaded. This is how people feel about Flock." And I'm like, "I understand that's how people feel, but that's not what Flock is." And so, if you're open to debunking that with me in a fair way. Sure. I I don't want your segment to be like Flop House wouldn't participate because we have nothing to hide.