Ring, an Amazon subsidiary specializing in video doorbells, has terminated its collaboration with the technology firm Flock Safety, the company announced on Thursday.
The decision to end the partnership came after weeks of public backlash concerning the collaboration and Ring’s Super Bowl advertisement aired last Sunday, which promoted a lost pet finder feature, sparking social media apprehension about unwarranted surveillance.
Previously, the smart camera company intended to incorporate Flock, a producer of license plate reader cameras, into its Community Requests feature, which facilitates law enforcement agencies requesting video footage from users for investigations.
“We have determined that the planned Flock Safety integration would require substantially more time and resources than anticipated. As a result, we have made a mutual decision to withdraw the planned integration,” stated Ring in a notice posted on its website.
Josh Thomas, Flock’s Communications Director, commented to CNN that the partnership’s cessation was a “mutual decision.”
Similar to Flock, Ring has faced its share of scrutiny regarding its ties with law enforcement agencies.
Federal agents are standing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the site of protests that erupted following the fatal shooting of Renne Good. Privacy and user security concerns with Ring coincided with these nationwide demonstrations.
Federal agents are standing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the site of protests that erupted following the fatal shooting of Renne Good. Privacy and user security concerns with Ring coincided with these nationwide demonstrations. Ryan Murphy/Reuters
A report from the independent outlet 404 Media last year indicated that Flock’s technology had been utilized in connection with immigration enforcement investigations, raising alarms among privacy advocates. Flock has repeatedly contested this reporting.
Customer fears expressed on social media intensified following the Super Bowl commercial, yet several Ring customers had voiced dissatisfaction online for weeks prior regarding the Flock partnership.
These anxieties align with widespread national protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the deaths of Alex Tetteh and Renne Good in Minneapolis. Last month, a viral post on X falsely claimed that ICE could gain access to Ring cameras. This post garnered nearly two million views and motivated at least one long-time Ring subscriber, Thomas Ellison, to cancel his service.
“This flyer made it sound like Ring had signed an agreement that [ICE] could access your cameras. That is truly concerning to me,” Ellison, who has several Ring cameras installed across family properties in Florida and Pennsylvania, told CNN before the collaboration was scrapped. Both Ring and Flock affirmed to CNN that they do not have any relationship with ICE.
Regarding Ring’s Community Requests feature:
Since the partnership never materialized, no Ring video footage was provided to Flock, the company shared.
Local authorities can still post requests related to active cases within the Ring Neighbors application via a third-party partner.
Federal agencies, including ICE, are ineligible to submit Community Requests through the Neighbors app, stated Ring representative Emma Daniels. Only local law enforcement entities are permitted to generate requests, and agencies can only request video pertaining to themselves.
“Ring does not collaborate with ICE, does not provide ICE with video, footage, or server access, nor does it share video with them,” Daniels wrote in correspondence with CNN.
The company is unaware of any community requests or legal demands involving immigration enforcement, Daniels informed CNN.
Upon submission of a video, Ring indicated that it is securely transferred to the company’s third-party partner, Axon Evidence. Axon subsequently relays the recording to the public safety agency that requested the information, and that agency then manages further access to the video, according to Ring’s website.
The Ring user’s home address and the email linked to their account are also furnished to the public safety agency when video clips are shared.
The retention and utilization of the video footage will be governed by the department’s policies and applicable legal statutes, a fact users are informed of before authorizing the sharing of their clips.
What to know about Flock and ICE:
Flock has no affiliation with ICE, Thomas informed CNN via email prior to the partnership termination. Federal agencies, including ICE, lack direct ingress to cameras, systems, or the data they contain, the company stated on its website.
“Flock’s role is not to encourage or deter cooperation with any federal body. Flock’s role is to ensure that customers understand what is being requested and retain complete authority over that decision,” the website explains.
Vehicles pass by a Flock license plate reader camera on May 15, 2025, in Eugene, Oregon.
Nevertheless, 404 Media reported last May that local police departments employed Flock’s AI-powered automated license plate reader system for immigration-related searches and other ICE investigations.
The publication examined a public records request response from the Danville, Illinois, Police Department, which revealed officers across the U.S. had entered terms such as “immigration,” “ICE,” “illegal immigration,” and other immigration-related justifications for querying Danville’s camera footage. The police department did not respond to CNN’s requests for commentary.
Danville Police Chief Chris Yates told 404 Media that the data “does not indicate the Danville Police Department is searching for Flock LPR [license plate reader] data or acting on behalf of another municipal, county, or state law enforcement agency, or ICE, concerning immigration matters.”
In response to the 404 Media report, Thomas reiterated that Flock maintains no relationship with ICE.
However, in May, Flock also conducted an internal audit of the agencies that accessed Illinois data through its platform. The audit findings demonstrated that several law enforcement bodies performed searches for reasons deemed “inadmissible” under Illinois law; consequently, Flock announced it revoked data access for 47 departments in Illinois.
When previously questioned about privacy concerns related to Flock’s technology, CEO Garrett Langley told CNN that the core issue boils down to community trust in law enforcement.
“If [people] are worried about privacy, the license plate reader is the silliest way for surveillance. You have a cell phone. A cell phone always knows your exact location,” he remarked. “If you don’t trust law enforcement to do their job, that’s what you’re really concerned about, and I’m not going to help people overcome that.”
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