On November 20, 2025, the Electronic Frontier Foundation published a report that it had identified, through public records requests, hundreds of searches by more than 50 federal, state, and local police agencies across the country ^{(archive link)}, containing terms like “protest” or “no kings”. These searches coincided with multiple political protests throughout the year, despite those protests being overall peaceful events with law-abiding citizens exercising their First Amendment rights.

404Media also covered this story ^{(archive link)}.

Police agencies have been using automated license plate reader (ALPR) systems to build and maintain information on protestors since at least 2010 ^{(archive link)}, and ALPRs are not the only tool in their toolbox: there is a growing array of advanced technology being aimed directly at protestors and political activists ^{(archive link)} to monitor their activities even when no crimes have been committed.