Category Archives: chicanery
Ky: “Fired elections staffer alleges Grimes improperly gathered voter data during campaigns”
Lexington Herald-Leader:
The recently fired assistant to the director of the State Board of Elections alleged in a letter to some members of the board that the office of Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes improperly gathered voter information from… Continue reading
More on Marc Elias/Perkins Role in Steele Dossier Matter
NYT:
The presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee paid for research that was included in a dossier made public in January that contained salacious claims about connections between Donald J. Trump, his associates and Russia.
A… Continue reading
“2 top Brady aides charged in probe of payoff to 2012 primary rival”
Philly Inquirer:
Two top political strategists for U.S. Rep. Robert Brady (D., Pa.) on Tuesday became the latest targets in a widening federal probe of $90,000 the congressman paid a 2012 primary challenger to drop out of the race.
Federal… Continue reading
“Clinton campaign, DNC paid for research that led to Russia dossier”
WaPo:
The Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee helped fund research that resulted in a now-famous dossier containing allegations about Donald Trump’s connections to Russia and possible coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin, people familiar with the… Continue reading
“Russia’s Favored Outlet Is an Online News Giant. YouTube Helped.”
NYT:
When the state-backed Russian news channel RT became the first news organization to surpass one billion views on YouTube in 2013, it marked the achievement with a retrospective of its most popular videos and a special guest — one… Continue reading
Friday’s First Amendment Law Review Symposium on Fake News to Be Webcast
Great event coming up, but you’ve got to sign up by Wed. to watch. Details.
I’ll be presenting my paper, Cheap Speech and What It Has Done (to American Democracy).
“Examining How A Russian ‘Troll Factory’ Pushed Texas Secession”
Texas Public Radio:
The fantasy of Texas national independence has been stoked for decades but in recent years it has found an ally with Russia. An investigation into a popular pro-Texas secession Facebook page found that it was run by … Continue reading
“Homegrown ‘fake news’ is a bigger problem than Russian propaganda. Here’s a way to make falsehoods more costly for politicians.”
Brendan Nyhan and Yusaku Horiuchi for the Monkey Cage:
One promising approach is summary fact-checking — an increasingly popular format that presents an overview of fact-checking ratings for a politician. This is distinct from focusing on whether a single… Continue reading
“Congress’s New Bill Can’t Eliminate Russian Influence Online”
Wired reports.
See my earlier Politico piece, Why Banning Russian Facebook Ads Might Be Impossible.
Bloomberg View: Honest Ads Act “Whole Inadequate” but “Entirely Necessary”
“Senators Demand Online Ad Disclosures as Tech Lobby Mobilizes”
NYT:
Senator John McCain and two Democratic senators moved on Thursday to force Facebook, Google and other internet companies to disclose who is purchasing online political advertising, after revelations that Russian-linked operatives bought deceptive ads in the run-up to the… Continue reading
“Trump Campaign Staffers Pushed Russian Propaganda Days Before the Election”
Daily Beast:
Some of the Trump campaign’s most prominent names and supporters, including Trump’s campaign manager, digital director and son, pushed tweets from professional trolls paid by the Russian government in the heat of the 2016 election campaign.
The Twitter… Continue reading
“Roy Moore’s Senate campaign blames Democrats for fake Twitter followers”
Weigel:
Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for Senate in Alabama, gained then lost thousands of apparently fake Twitter followers in the space of a few hours — a situation that his campaign blamed on Democrats.
“We highly doubt that reporters… Continue reading