Facebook check-ins at Standing Rock show solidarity with tribe

Facebook friends checking in to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Fort Yates, North Dakota, likely aren't actually there.

Instead, users are utilizing the tactic as a way to support protesters in North Dakota who hope to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a $3.8 billion project meant to carry Bakken oil patch crude across four states to a hub at Patoka, Illinois.

By Monday afternoon, some 900,000 people had checked in to Standing Rock.

The tactic is said to be designed to confuse law enforcement officers. Supporters claim officers are using Facebook’s check-in feature to monitor traffic in and out of the massive protest camp.

“The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is not and does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location,” spokeswoman Donnell Hushka wrote in an email. “This claim/rumor is absolutely false.”

The protest is being led by the Sioux Tribe, which claims the pipeline threatens water resources and sacred land. Tribe officials say they are not, however, behind the social media check-in campaign.

Read more from the Argus Leader.