A TV package that reframes local civic opposition as “Chinese propaganda.” Two op-eds on Wall Street–linked think tank letterhead. A report with a foreword by the former NSA director of cybersecurity. All in one week.

On Sep 8 and 9, 2026, while Sen. Hawley was expanding his federal investigation to four AI camera vendors, three distinct media operations coordinated in defense of the same provider [1][2]. Documented by 404 Media and State of Surveillance:

  • Sinclair Broadcasting, the largest owner of local TV stations in the US, ran a package titled “Far-left network behind ‘No Kings’ protests targeting AI data centers, Flock cams” on at least 40 local markets [1][2].
  • The Manhattan Institute, a think tank historically associated with hedge fund manager Paul Singer, published op-eds by senior fellow Rafael Mangual (August) and Charles Fain Lehman (in The Atlantic, Aug 10) [2].
  • Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE), a lobbying outfit with mostly undisclosed funding sources (prior IRS records show money from pharmaceutical and telecom industries), published “The Compute War At Home,” foreworded by Rob Joyce, former NSA director of cybersecurity [1][2].

The AI writing detector Pangram flagged the CASE report as “likely written by AI” outside the citation block [1][2]. Joyce told Fox News that “a foreign influence operation can simply identify an existing division, amplify the most combustible narratives, and it pushes Americans farther apart” [3].

The data point that breaks the frame: opposition to Flock is bipartisan. The reporting itself names Republicans Ron DeSantis, Josh Hawley, and Thomas Massie alongside Democrats Josh Shapiro, Ron Wyden, and Ed Markey [1][2]. Fox News and Sinclair both amplified the same CASE report. A neo-Nazi accelerationist group (Private Aryan Resistance) is also recruiting to sabotage Flock cameras. An a16z VC deleted a tweet implying 404 Media worked with defund-the-police groups. Flock CEO Garrett Langley had previously called DeFlock “a terroristic organization” closer to ANTIFA — and then apologized [4].

The angle nobody is reporting: documenting the structural shape of a coordinated push (lobbying group → think tank → cable news → local TV syndication inside a single week) is editorial work neither trade press nor mainstream is doing. The ownable part is the pattern, not the verdict. CASE funding undisclosed + Pangram’s “AI-written” flag + symmetrical Fox/Sinclair amplification of the same report are three ownable facts cited in one or two places each but never in the same analysis.

( the Langley-Forbes precedent from July 2026, and the CEO’s shift from “terroristic organization” to apology, is the marker that the pre-existing strategy didn’t work — the September push is the escalated version with more actors and more money )

The lesson for anyone deploying cameras today: the operational signal is not whether Flock per se is good or bad. The signal is whether the PR ecosystem defending any AI vendor under federal investigation has become predictable in structure — think tank + lobbying group + cable + local TV syndication, synchronized in a single week. When you see that pattern for the vendor on your next RFP, treat it as a flag. Not because the vendor is bad — because the vendor knows it needs that kind of defense, and that tells you something about what the product is hiding underneath.

P.D. Who shows up in your local news cycle when there’s controversy about your camera vendor? If the answer is “I don’t know,” it’s worth checking the Sinclair/Bally/general local affiliate feed in your market — before the next RFP lands.

📰 Sources: 404 Media (Jason Koebler, Sep 9, 2026) [1]; State of Surveillance (Sep 10, 2026) [2]; Fox News (Aug 2025) [3]; Forbes (Thomas Brewster, Jul 17, 2026) [4]. Timeline verifiable; verbatim quotes from each URL consulted.

Sources

[1] 404 Media — Smear Campaign Says Anti-Flock Movement Is Chinese Propaganda (Jason Koebler, Sep 9, 2026) — https://www.404media.co/smear-campaign-says-anti-flock-movement-is-chinese-propaganda/ [2] State of Surveillance — Daily Surveillance Briefing September 10, 2026 — https://stateofsurveillance.org/news/daily-surveillance-briefing-september-10-2026/ [3] Fox News — Hawley rips Flock’s sprawling surveillance web (Aug 2025) — https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hawley-rips-flocks-sprawling-surveillance-web-texas-cities-cut-cameras-privacy-data-fears [4] Forbes — Flock CEO Sorry For Labelling Activists Terrorists (Thomas Brewster, Jul 17, 2026) — https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2026/07/17/flock-ceo-sorry-for-labelling-activists-terrorists/