I don't know about that. It's pretty well documented that the US government has been watching and subverting activists for decades
Governments usually justify their spying apparatus to stop terrorism or pedophilia. Both noble causes. I've never seen government officials publicly admitting that they use the same tools to stop public dissent, legal peaceful protests and free speech. It generally doesn't bode well.
Where in the case of this article does it show that the govt attempted to stop public dissent? I read a lot about monitoring and nothing about stopping. I also read a lot about using the same tools any of us with a laptop and a phone could use. My guess is that some atrocious things happen in the world of govt spying on citizens, but they're not on display here imo.
My comment was a generalization in reply to minimum_wage and not specific to this article.