Category Archives: campaigns

“Trump campaign legal bills topped $1 million last quarter”

October 15, 2017, 7:29 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: President Trump’s reelection committee spent more than $1 million on legal bills last quarter as investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election pressed on through the summer, according to a disclosure filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission.… Continue reading

“Donald Trump campaign ramps up 2020 re-election fundraising”

October 15, 2017, 7:16 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

CPI: New financial disclosures President Donald Trump’s re-election committee filed Sunday with the Federal Election Commission tell a story of two Trump campaigns. On one end, Trump, both by choice and circumstance, remains tethered to his 2016 presidential election effort.… Continue reading

“Black Lawmakers Hold a Particular Grievance With Facebook: Racial Exploitation”

October 15, 2017, 11:28 amcampaignsRick Hasen

NYT: For more than an hour, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s high-profile chief operating officer, sheepishly pledged to “do better” — over and over — as stern-faced members of the Congressional Black Caucus grilled her on Thursday about Russian ads aimed… Continue reading

“Google, Facebook putting an early mark on political advertising bills”

October 13, 2017, 7:34 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Google and Facebook are looking to make an early imprint on legislation being drafted in the House and Senate that would force them and other online networks to disclose information about the buyers of political ads. Lobbyists from the… Continue reading

“Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg just hinted that Russian-bought ads could be fair game”

October 13, 2017, 6:56 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Business Insider: Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg told Axios’ Mike Allen on Thursday that the company would not have removed the political ads purchased by accounts operating out of Russia if they had been posted by real people rather… Continue reading

“We Asked Facebook 12 Questions About the Election, and Got 5 Answers”

October 11, 2017, 8:37 pmcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT. One of the questions Facebook did not answer: 12.Your advertiser website lists “success stories” of political campaigns that have used Facebook advertising to increase turnout and win elections. Knowing that Facebook could be used to influence election results, why… Continue reading

“20th Century Law Can’t Regulate 21st Century Technology”

October 11, 2017, 4:05 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Ciara Torres Spelliscy: As much as fun as it is to beat up on Facebook, the problem lies far deeper than any social media platform, no matter how ubiquitous. Simply put, 20th century law is being used to regulate 21st … Continue reading

“Senate Democrats worry Russia could jeopardize reelection bids”

October 11, 2017, 5:58 amcampaigns, chicanery, The Voting WarsRick Hasen

Politico: Democratic senators such as Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Jon Tester of Montana — who hail from states President Donald Trump won in 2016 — know they’re already facing stiff reelection challenges. Now they’re… Continue reading

“How Russia Harvested American Rage to Reshape U.S. Politics”

October 10, 2017, 7:37 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Today’s must-read: A New York Times examination of hundreds of those posts shows that one of the most powerful weapons that Russian agents used to reshape American politics was the anger, passion and misinformation that real Americans were broadcasting across… Continue reading

“Now, Microsoft is reviewing its records for potential Russian meddling during the 2016 election”

October 9, 2017, 6:37 pmcampaigns, chicaneryJustin Levitt

Recode reports: Microsoft is currently reviewing its sales records to determine whether trolls aligned with the Russian government purchased ads on Bing or other company products during the 2016 U.S. presidential race. I’ll be interested indeed to see whether… Continue reading

“Google uncovers Russian-bought ads on YouTube, Gmail and other platforms”

October 9, 2017, 5:27 pmcampaignsJustin Levitt

It spreads beyond Facebook: Google for the first time has uncovered evidence that Russian operatives exploited the company’s platforms in an attempt to interfere in the 2016 election, according to people familiar with the company’s investigation. The Silicon Valley giant… Continue reading

60 Minutes Report on Brad Parscale, Trump campaign’s digital director

October 9, 2017, 5:27 pmcampaignsJustin Levitt

An interesting profile on Parscale, including a bit on his interaction with the leading social media companies. UPDATE: here’s a page with the transcript of the video as well. More here at NBC, with a tantalizing headline: Trump’s digital… Continue reading

“Twitter takes down GOP lawmaker’s campaign ad”

October 9, 2017, 5:26 pmcampaignsJustin Levitt

And the issues for social media companies around political ads don’t get any easier. The Hill reports: Twitter took down a campaign ad from Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) that referenced “baby body parts,” the congresswoman’s campaign said on Monday.… Continue reading