Company officials say the pipeline will be a safer way to transfer oil 1,170 miles from North Dakota to Illinois. But activists say the construction of the pipeline will harm sacred cultural lands and local water supplies. Activists call themselves Water Protectors and are busy raising money online that is intended to help them operate an encampment near the protest area.

Who started the Facebook protest?

It’s not clear. But activist pages, including Stand Against Dakota Access Pipeline — No DAPL, have shared some version of a message that is all over Facebook: “The Morton County Sheriff’s Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps. Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check in at SR to overwhelm and confuse them.”

Is the check-in movement distracting law enforcement?

No, according to the authorities.

“The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is not and does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location. This claim/rumor is absolutely false,” the department wrote on its Facebook page on Monday.

It’s not unheard-of, however, for the police to rely on social media to locate and track the movements of suspects, but it looks like this particular movement was started without an understanding of how the authorities would gather data — or if they were doing this at all.

Are there precedents for this?

Checking in to protests has been a favorite pastime of online observers who can’t be where the protest is but want to spread the word.