Category Archives: campaigns

“Twitter, With Accounts Linked to Russia, to Face Congress Over Role in Election”

September 28, 2017, 7:22 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: For three weeks, a harsh spotlight has been trained on Facebook over its disclosure that Russians used fake pages and ads, designed to look like the work of American activists, to spread inflammatory messages during and since the… Continue reading

“Exclusive: Russian-bought Black Lives Matter ad on Facebook targeted Baltimore and Ferguson”

September 28, 2017, 7:17 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

CNN: At least one of the Facebook ads bought by Russians during the 2016 presidential campaign referenced Black Lives Matter and was specifically targeted to reach audiences in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, sources with knowledge of the ads told CNN.

Campaign Legal Center Hosting Event on Foreign Interference in U.S. Elections on Oct. 12

September 28, 2017, 7:11 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Details and RSVP.

Some Russian-Paid Facebook Ads May Have Contained Express Advocacy, Making Them Illegal Under Current Law

September 26, 2017, 7:19 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Politico: Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was the beneficiary of at least one Russian-bought ad on Facebook that federal government officials suspect were intended to influence the 2016 election. Other advertisements paid for by shadowy Russian buyers criticized Hillary… Continue reading

“Why Banning Russian Facebook Ads Might Be Impossible”

September 26, 2017, 10:52 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

I have written this piece for Politico magazine. It begins: Lost amid the debate over whether Facebook can be trusted to police itself to stop Russian and other foreign interference in future U.S. elections or whether new legislation is necessary… Continue reading

“The end of political campaigns as we know them? A new study suggests we’re doing it all wrong.”

September 26, 2017, 7:47 amcampaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Billions of dollars are spent every election cycle on advertising, which accounts for the lion’s share of the money in U.S. politics. Campaigns also spend countless hours organizing voter contacts in hopes of winning over would-be supporters. A… Continue reading

“Russian operatives used Facebook ads to exploit divisions over black political activism and Muslims”

September 25, 2017, 2:30 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

WaPo: The batch of more than 3,000 Russian-bought ads that Facebook is preparing to turn over to Congress shows a deep understanding of social divides in American society, with some ads promoting African-American rights groups including Black Lives Matter and… Continue reading

“Facebook’s Response Isn’t Enough; Congress cannot let Americans remain in the dark about online political advertising.”

September 25, 2017, 12:05 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Karen Hobert Flynn oped.

“Why Facebook Will Struggle to Regulate Political Ads”

September 25, 2017, 10:31 amcampaign finance, campaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Wired reports.

“Open up the black box of political advertising”

September 23, 2017, 12:38 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Chris Elmendorf, Ann Ravel and Abby Wood in SF Chronicle: Micro-targeted political advertising raises two sets of concerns: It’s likely to exacerbate political polarization, and the erosion of broadly shared norms against hateful ideologies such as white supremacy. Political… Continue reading

“Facebook Is Now The Federal Election Commission, But With More Secrets”

September 23, 2017, 12:31 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Paul Blumenthal for HuffPo: In what looked like a presidential address with a distinct Silicon Valley aesthetic, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed his private online nation of 2 billion users on Thursday from his glass-walled office space. He went live… Continue reading

“At Menendez Trial, Legal Wrestling Over Definition of ‘Constituent’”

September 23, 2017, 12:22 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

NYT: The prosecution, citing Black’s Law Dictionary, argued in a brief filed on Tuesday that “the straightforward answer is that Senator Menendez’s constituents are the New Jerseyans that he was elected to represent in the United States Senate.” But the… Continue reading