“The Billion-Dollar Disinformation Campaign to Reelect the President; How new technologies and techniques pioneered by dictators will shape the 2020 election”
Deep dive by McKay Coppins in The Atlantic.
Category Archives: campaigns
“Candidate Privacy”
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
“Tool to Help Journalists Spot Doctored Images Is Unveiled by Jigsaw”
NYT:
A doctored, phony image of President Barack Obama shaking hands with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran. A real photograph of a Muslim girl at a desk doing her homework with Donald J. Trump looming in the background on television.It… Continue reading
RNC Sending Misleading Fundraising Mailers Designed to Look Like Official Census Forms in Northern California
SacBee:
Some Northern California voters are receiving documents that resemble U.S. Census forms, but they are in fact fundraising appeals from the Republican National Committee.The document, printed on heavy paper, is labeled “2020 Congressional District Census,” with the words “DO… Continue reading
“A Trump ally’s ‘$25,000 cash giveaway’ for black voters could mean legal trouble”
Donald Sherman WaPo oped.
“Bloomberg Fueled His Campaign With $200 Million From His Own Fortune”
NYT:
Michael R. Bloomberg put more than $200 million of his personal fortune into his presidential campaign by the end of December, with the overwhelming bulk of that sum going to a mammoth advertising campaign on television and online, according… Continue reading
“Burr backs Trump lawyer claim on foreign dirt”
Politico:
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said on Thursday he has “no problem” with a White House lawyer’s argument that American politicians can accept damaging information on their opponents from a foreign country — a proposal that shocked… Continue reading
Bipartisan House Ethics Warning About Members and Their Staffs Circulating Deep Fakes
New memo (via Brian Svoboda):
However, intentional distortions of audio and/or visual representations can be far more damaging. Members have a duty, and a First Amendment right, to contribute to the public discourse, including through parody and satire. However,… Continue reading
“The Technology 202: Pinterest bans misinformation about voting and the census”
“Trump allies are handing out cash to black voters”
Politico:
Allies of Donald Trump have begun holding events in black communities where organizers lavish praise on the president as they hand out tens of thousands of dollars to lucky attendees.The first giveaway took place last month in Cleveland,… Continue reading
“Trump’s Digital Advantage Is Freaking Out Democratic Strategists”
Tom Edsall in the NYT:
If you attend an evangelical or a Catholic Church, a women’s rights march or a political rally of any kind, especially in a seriously contested state, the odds are that your cellphone ID number,… Continue reading
“Big-money groups aligned with Senate GOP raised $68.3 million in 2019, an off-year record, officials say”
“American voters worry they can’t spot misleading information, poll finds”
PBS:
The new survey from PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist Poll found that 59 percent of Americans say it is hard to identify false information — intentionally misleading and inaccurate stories portrayed as truth — on social media. Another… Continue reading
“Tech Companies Volunteer to Beef Up Presidential Campaigns’ Cybersecurity”
WSJ:
Nearly a dozen technology companies said they will provide free or reduced-cost cybersecurity services to presidential campaigns, which experts and intelligence officials have warned are ripe targets for intrusion and disinformation.They join a growing number of firms … Continue reading