Mass Surveillance Isn’t Pretty: Over 10k Women Sign Petition to Remove Flock Cameras from Ulta Beauty Stores.

For Immediate Release: September 2, 2026
Contact: media@fwdshift.com

UltraViolet, a national women’s rights and survivor justice group, has launched a new accountability campaign aimed at retailer Ulta Beauty’s commercial ties to surveillance company Flock Safety.

UltraViolet, a leading national women-led gender-justice organization responsible for numerous impactful victories against sexual predators and tech-facilitated sexual violence, released the following statement after signatures on its new “Drop Flock” campaign directed at retailer Ulta Beauty passed the 10,000 mark, building pressure on Ulta to terminate all contracts with Flock Safety and similar mass surveillance systems:

“Ulta Beauty has built a multibillion-dollar business on women’s trust. Putting Flock, an invasive mass surveillance system, right outside its stores without customer knowledge or consent is a direct violation of that trust,” said UltraViolet Campaign Director Jenna Sherman. “Flock cameras don’t keep women safe—they create new ways to target, track, and harm us. That’s why we feel betrayed: Ulta’s contracts with Flock are about saving Ulta money, at the expense of their over 80% women customer base. More than 10,000 women and allies are sending Ulta a simple message: Mass surveillance isn’t pretty. Get Flock out of your stores and off your lots.”

Installed across both urban and rural areas on highways, in neighborhoods, and outside local stores like Ulta and Lowe’s, Flock’s network of more than 120,000 cameras marks a terrifying acceleration towards large-scale mass surveillance—one that could not be more significant for everyday people, and women especially.

Flock and similar automatic license plate reader (ALPR) technology have already been used to track women seeking abortions, help ICE track and deport immigrants, stalk and harass women—including in droves by police officers abusing their access to Flock—, monitor protesters and activists, and spy on children. And that’s not all—these systems are regularly wrong: It’s estimated that 1 in 10 license plates scanned by Flock license plate readers misread the state, while in certain localities stolen vehicle alerts can prove mistaken in more than 70 percent of cases.

“Unfortunately, we shouldn’t be surprised by this grim reality. The very politicians and companies pushing this surveillance system are the same powerful people protecting Epstein enablers, profiting from AI-generated child sexual abuse material, and separating mothers from their babies,” continued Sherman. “This isn’t about public safety—it’s a new, insidious way of stripping women of our consent. And women have had enough. Ulta now has a choice: continue enabling mass surveillance or stand with its customers by cutting ties with Flock.”

In this new “Drop Flock” campaign, UltraViolet is bringing a gender justice lens to the growing network of local anti-Flock movements across the country fighting to get their cities and major corporate customers, like Ulta Beauty and Lowe’s Home Improvement, to break contracts with the mass surveillance network technology.

As part of its goal to make technology safer for women and gender-expansive people, UltraViolet has also launched campaigns against Meta hate speech rollbacks, pressured TikTok to remove ads promoting the use of GPS trackers for stalking, and raised alarms about emerging technologies that can facilitate abuse—including nonconsensual sexual deepfakes made with AI and wearable surveillance technologies such as Meta’s smart glasses, all while fighting to ensure that these platforms are safe and welcoming for all.

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weareultraviolet.org

UltraViolet Education Fund is a women-led gender justice 501c3 organization, with an online community of more than 1 million members nationwide. We combine organizing, technology, creative campaigning, and people power to win real-world changes for women and gender expansive people.