Category Archives: campaigns

“Streaming Services Are A ‘Wild West’ For Political Ads, Mozilla Finds”

September 23, 2020, 7:42 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Video Insider: Political ads have followed consumers to popular streaming services. But unlike traditional TV broadcasters, streamers are not required to disclose how ads are targeted or who is viewing them. And while social media platforms have begun to… Continue reading

Why Couldn’t It Be a State with Better Election Administration? (Axios: “Trump campaign goes all in on Pennsylvania”)

September 20, 2020, 9:00 pmcampaigns, election administrationRick Hasen

Axios reports.

“Biden Has $466 Million in Bank, and a Huge Financial Edge on Trump”

September 20, 2020, 8:56 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Shane Goldmacher for the NYT: Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s campaign said on Sunday that it entered September with $466 million in the bank together with the Democratic Party, providing Mr. Biden a vast financial advantage of about $141 million… Continue reading

“Cash-strapped Trump campaign awaits a bailout from big donors”

September 17, 2020, 8:23 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Republican Party megadonors are racing to bail out President Donald Trump’s cash-strapped reelection campaign, with a newly formed super PAC pouring a further$25 million into battleground states.Preserve America is set to begin running a trio of TV commercials savaging… Continue reading

“New Tool to Analyze Political Advertising on Facebook Reveals Massive Discrepancies in Party Spending on Presidential Contest”

September 16, 2020, 5:54 pmcampaign finance, campaigns, cheap speechRick Hasen

NYU: Transparency in political ads is vital to ensuring safe and fair elections, but transparency is difficult if advertisers are not required to disclose details about targeting and sources of funding. While TV broadcasters must disclose information about political… Continue reading

“Sheldon Adelson is plotting a spending spree to help Trump with under 50 days left until the election”

September 16, 2020, 7:23 amcampaign finance, campaigns, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

CNBC: Casino magnate and Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson is plotting a spending blitz to support President Donald Trump with just under 50 days to go until Election Day, CNBC has learned. Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands, is looking… Continue reading

“Pro-Trump youth group enlists teens in secretive campaign likened to a ‘troll farm,’ prompting rebuke by Facebook and Twitter”

September 15, 2020, 5:44 pmcampaigns, cheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

Washington Post: One tweet claimed coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated, adding, “It’s hard to know what to believe.” Another warned, “Don’t trust Dr. Fauci.”A Facebook comment argued that mail-in ballots “will lead to fraud for this election,” while an Instagram… Continue reading

“A bug in Joe Biden’s campaign app gave anyone access to millions of voter files”

September 14, 2020, 2:17 pmcampaigns, cheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

Tech Crunch: A privacy bug in Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s official campaign app allowed anyone to look up sensitive voter information on millions of Americans, a security researcher has found.The campaign app, Vote Joe, allows Biden supporters to… Continue reading

“‘This is f—ing crazy’: Florida Latinos swamped by wild conspiracy theories; A flood of disinformation and deceptive claims is damaging Joe Biden in the nation’s biggest swing state.”

September 14, 2020, 1:57 pmcampaigns, cheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

Politico: George Soros directs a “deep state” global conspiracy network. A Joe Biden win would put America in control of “Jews and Blacks.” The Democratic nominee has a pedophilia problem.Wild disinformation like this is inundating Spanish-speaking residents of South… Continue reading

Blockbuster BuzzFeed Story: “Facebook Is Turning A Blind Eye To Global Political Manipulation, According To This Explosive Secret Memo”

September 14, 2020, 1:32 pmcampaigns, cheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

So troubling: Facebook ignored or was slow to act on evidence that fake accounts on its platform have been undermining elections and political affairs around the world, according to an explosive memo sent by a recently fired Facebook employee and… Continue reading

Today’s Must-Read: Sue Halpern: “How the Trump Campaign’s Mobile App is Collecting Huge Amounts of Voter Data”

September 14, 2020, 8:12 amcampaigns, cheap speech, chicaneryRick Hasen

A wow story in the New Yorker: On its face, Phunware seems like a strange choice to develop the campaign’s app. Before working for President Trump, Phunware’s software was being used in relatively few applications, the most popular being a… Continue reading

“Bloomberg Says He’ll Spend $100 Million in Florida to Help Biden”

September 14, 2020, 8:01 amcampaign finance, campaigns, Plutocrats UnitedRick Hasen

NYT: Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and presidential candidate, announced Sunday that he planned to spend $100 million in Florida in the coming weeks to support Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s presidential candidacy.The pledge came as … Continue reading

“Democrats build big edge in early voting”

September 10, 2020, 5:37 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

Politico: Democrats are amassing an enormous lead in early voting, alarming Republicans who worry they’ll need to orchestrate a huge Election Day turnout during a deadly coronavirus outbreak to answer the surge.The Democratic dominance spreads across an array of battleground… Continue reading

“Trump reports raising $210 million last month, lagging behind Biden’s record-breaking August haul”

September 9, 2020, 8:01 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: President Trump’s campaign, the Republican National Committee and two affiliated fundraising committees on Wednesday announced raising $210 million in August — a sizable sum that still lags behind Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s record-breaking haul last month.The RNC said… Continue reading

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