Not even a billionaire can escape the brewing backlash against Flock Safety.
Chris Larsen, the crypto billionaire and Ripple cofounder who helped fund the expansion of surveillance tools in San Francisco to help address crime, said he's getting flak at home over his backing of the tech. On an episode of the podcast "On with Kara Swisher" published Monday, Larsen said his 19-year-old son has called him out.
"He always gives me a hard time — 'I can't believe you're doing this surveillance thing? What are you doing?'" Larsen said his son has asked him.
When Larsen responds that surveillance has helped cut down on crime in San Francisco, he said his son doesn't budge.
"I'd rather have the crime than the surveillance," his son said, according to Larsen.
The pushback comes as backlash against surveillance cameras — particularly automated license-plate readers that are used by law enforcement — continues to grow, with much of it aimed at Flock, at Atlanta-based company whose products are used in thousands of communities across the US.
On top of privacy concerns, critics point to cases where Flock's technology misidentified plates or was used by police officers for nefarious means, like tracking an ex. A Business Insider investigation found a dozen cases where a person who had not committed a crime was wrongfully targeted by police using Flock.
Flock has said its technology is a critical public safety tool that has helped law enforcement agencies across the US. The company also announced last month that it was tightening privacy and accountability safeguards in response to the backlash.
A growing 'DeFlock movement'
Larsen donated $9.4 million to the San Francisco Police Department in 2025 to support its Real‑Time Investigations Center, a tech and surveillance hub that utilizes automated license-plate readers, drones, cameras, and real-time video feeds to assist in responding to crimes. When announcing the donation, Larsen said it would help police get additional technology tools to reduce crime, specifically naming Flock.
The city of San Francisco has said technology, including drones and Flock's automated license-plate readers, has helped address car break-ins. Between fiscal years 2023 and 2025, reported thefts from vehicles declined by 79%, reaching the lowest level since 2017, according to officials.
Larsen has faced public backlash before for his support of the tech. A group of protesters gathered outside his home last month as part of a wave of national demonstrations that called on cities to cut ties with Flock.
"We're here for one very specific reason: to watch the man who feels entitled to watching all of us," one protester said in a video of the protest.
In the interview with Swisher, Larsen said that one to two years ago, there was much more support for tools like Flock cameras, but that now there's huge opposition with the "DeFlock movement."
Jurisdictions have already begun banning or cutting back on their use of Flock cameras. The Florida Department of Transportation last month ordered the removal of automated license-plate readers from state highways, while cities like Denver and Tempe, Arizona, have deactivated their Flock cameras.
Larsen praised the way San Francisco uses drones for being "incident based," or used only when there's a report or ongoing situation, rather than actively patrolling the streets. He suggested the city could reconsider how long it stores data collected by Flock, which he said is currently a year. Flock's current default is to store data for seven days.
"This is going to be the issue of the day," Larsen said of using tools like Flock to address crime. "It's a trade-off, public safety and privacy, and just being able to not be seen. Where is that line?"
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Kelsey Vlamis is a senior reporter for Business Insider, where she covers business and tech news. She also writes business stories about travel, luxury, and culture. Previously, she covered the environment, outdoors, and indigenous issues.Her feature story "Disaster at 18,200 feet" received awards from the New York Press Club and the North American Travel Journalists Association, as well as honorable mention from the Society of American Travel Writers. She has also received an American Journalism Online Award for her coverage on missing and murdered Indigenous people in Wyoming.She's appeared on CBS, NPR, NBC, and other outlets to discuss her reporting. She previously worked on the world news desk at the BBC in London and received a master's in journalism from Northwestern University.She can be reached by email at [email protected] or via the encrypted-messaging app Signal at kelseyv.21.
