Category Archives: campaigns

“Political Advertising, Digital Platforms, and the Democratic Deficiencies of Self-Regulation”

March 9, 2020, 12:01 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

Rob Yablon has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Minn. L. Rev. Headnotes). Here is the abstract: Amid ongoing concerns about foreign electoral interference and fake news, digital platforms like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have been rolling out new political… Continue reading

“The Technology 202: Twitter’s first ‘manipulated media’ flag on Trump aide ignites fact-checking debate”

March 9, 2020, 7:47 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

WaPo: Social media sites are once again at the center of a debate over online speech after Twitter applied its new “manipulated media” label for the first time yesterday to a deceptively edited video of former vice president Joe… Continue reading

“Mike Bloomberg plans new group to support Democratic nominee”

March 5, 2020, 7:45 pmcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WaPo: Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has decided to form an independent expenditure campaign that will absorb hundreds of his presidential campaign staffers in six swing states to work to elect the Democratic nominee this fall.The group, with a… Continue reading

“Facebook Removes Misleading Trump Census Ads”

March 5, 2020, 7:41 pmcampaigns, census litigation, chicaneryRick Hasen

NYT: Facebook said on Thursday that it had removed misleading ads run by President Trump’s re-election campaign about the 2020 census, in a stand against disinformation ahead of the decennial population count that begins next week.Earlier this week, Trump Make… Continue reading

“Facebook allows Trump campaign to run deceptive Census ads”

March 5, 2020, 9:34 amcampaignsRick Hasen

Judd Legum for Popular Information.

“Report: Russian social accounts sow election discord – again”

March 5, 2020, 9:28 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

AP: Four years after Russia-linked groups stoked divisions in the U.S. presidential election on social media platforms, a new report shows that Moscow’s campaign hasn’t let up and has become harder to detect.The report from University of Wisconsin-Madison professor… Continue reading

“‘Rigged’ rhetoric makes a comeback after Trump’s comments and Sanders’s losses — and gives Russia just what it wants”

March 4, 2020, 12:14 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

Aaron Blake for WaPo.

“Michael Bloomberg Quits Democratic Race, Ending a Brief and Costly Bid”

March 4, 2020, 8:11 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

NYT: In an unprecedented effort to self-finance a presidential campaign — which some rivals derided as an attempt to buy the White House — Mr. Bloomberg’s bid cost him more than half a billion dollars in advertising alone. He… Continue reading

“Super Tuesday to Test Whether Bloomberg’s Ad Presence Pays Off”

March 2, 2020, 8:06 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

WSJ: TV viewers in Super Tuesday states know this: Michael Bloomberg and his presidential campaign are on almost every channel. All day. And nearly all night.The former New York City mayor appears on presidential primary ballots for the first… Continue reading

“Election Meltdown, Part 4. Rhetoric and reality: When is it OK to say an election was ‘stolen’?”

February 15, 2020, 9:44 amcampaigns, Election MeltdownRick Hasen

You can listen to the fourth episode of the Election Meltdown podcast (in conjunction with Dahlia Lithwick and Slate Amicus) at this link. (Episode 1 on voter suppression/voter fraud is here, Episode 2 on election administrator incompetence is … Continue reading

“GOP-affiliated group intervenes in Democratic primary for US Senate seat in North Carolina”

February 7, 2020, 7:42 amcampaignsRick Hasen

CNN: The first significant ad buy for state Sen. Erica Smith, a Democratic candidate for US Senate in North Carolina, appears to be backed by Republicans.Faith and Power, a new political action committee with ties to Republicans, formally… Continue reading

Washington Examiner Newspaper Sells Its Mailing List to Trump Campaign/RNC For Fundraising Blast, Then Writes Article About Blast Without Revealing This Fact

February 7, 2020, 7:25 amcampaign finance, campaignsRick Hasen

Dave Levinthal thread starts here: 1/ A short thread about a news organization, the Trump campaign and a fundraising message …On Thursday, my colleague @JimSmall received a garden variety campaign solicitation from the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a… Continue reading

“The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President; How new technologies and techniques pioneered by dictators will shape the 2020 election”

February 6, 2020, 7:57 amcampaigns, chicaneryRick Hasen

Deep dive by McKay Coppins in The Atlantic.

“Candidate Privacy”

February 5, 2020, 3:37 pmcampaignsRick Hasen

Rebecca Green has posted this draft on SSRN (forthcoming, Washington Law Review). Here is the abstract: In the United States, we have long accepted that candidates for public office who have voluntarily stepped into the public eye sacrifice claims to… Continue reading