On Monday, June 27, 2022, the campaign Facebook page of CareySue Beasley, candidate for Okaloosa County Commissioner District 2, was allegedly hacked.
- Although her page is still up, Facebook has it locked, leaving her unable to respond, interact or post anything for 29 days.
“About 7:30 in the morning last Monday,” Beasley explains, “I got a notification that inappropriate content was posted to my account, and I had no idea what they were talking about.”
According to Beasley, when she accessed her account, she saw there were 11 posts in total including four pornographic videos and what she later learned from the Sheriff’s Department to be an ISIS flag, which quickly triggered the lockdown.
- She is also locked out of her Okaloosa Donuts and Easy Vacation Services, LLC pages, both of which she owns, and all of the pages associated with her business and Instagram accounts.
Beasley filed an appeal with Facebook and today (July 5) got an email from the government affairs department for Facebook’s parent company, Meta. She also filed a report with the Okaloosa Sheriff’s Department and with the FBI.
While she waits for Facebook to lift the restriction, people can reach out to her via email, phone, or text, and also through her Twitter account.
- “I’m confident that Facebook will hopefully get it resolved this week,” she explains. “And of course, the publicity regarding this attack has been very helpful now to let people know that I’m not ignoring them.”
Although Beasley does not have any idea where the attack came from, she has the utmost confidence that the Okaloosa Sheriff’s Department will solve it.
- “When I spoke with the investigator, he said they had already contacted Facebook to preserve my data and there were subpoenas being issued for getting the IP addresses. It’s a prosecutable offense obviously, and we will absolutely be prosecuting to the fullest when they are discovered.“
As far as her campaign is going, Beasley is very much looking forward to the Candidate Forum this Thursday, July 7 at 5:30 pm at the Fort Walton Beach Auditorium. She has also scheduled forums of her own.
“I’ve rented the Crestview Community Center to do a town hall because a lot of the forums have sponsors and prearranged questions and moderators… things that don’t necessarily represent the neighbors and the voters,” she added. “I have invited all the candidates of any race and all neighbors of any district and any place to come to Crestview Community Center for a town hall.”
This town hall is scheduled for August 2nd, and Beasley hopes to schedule more open forums in Fort Walton, Niceville and Destin.
- 850-533-9558
- careysue@careysue2022.com