Elections and Media

Cambridge Analytica, the Anglo-American data and behavioral science firm that worked for Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Donald Trump–and that sparked an investigation in the UK and inquiries by US lawmakers–has announced two initiatives in the past year that highlight some of the newer techniques in targeted advertising and the complex relationships that surround them. Since 2016’s presidential campaigns, the company has sought to expand further into targeted, or addressable, TV, an emerging type of data-driven ad technology that marketers and political campaigns can use to know not just what key

[Commentatry] We exist in a time when technological capabilities and economic incentives have combined to attack truth and weaken trust. It is not an act of pre-planned perdition. Unchecked, however, it will have the same effect. The broader question is how to deal with the exploitation of the Web as a vehicle for de-democratizing communities fueled by fact-free untruth? I would argue that it was software algorithms that put us in this situation, and it is software algorithms that can get us out of it.

Sen Ben Cardin (D-MD) called for a congressional hearing into Donald Trump Jr.'s communications with WikiLeaks during the 2016 presidential campaign, saying the matter was "troublesome."  "This is extremely troublesome and it really does require a congressional hearing," Cardin, who is the Ranking Member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  "First of all, we know that WikiLeaks has been working with Russia in regards to what happened in our election. Now we know there was communication between WikiLeaks and Donald Trump Jr.

Facebook hired the former top aide to a lawmaker investigating how Russians may have used its platform to subvert the 2016 election to lobby on its behalf in Oct. Facebook is bolstering its forces in Washington amid unprecedented investigations into the power of its platform and a new bill that would create new disclosure requirements for online political ads. Facebook hired Luke Albee to lobby on, among other issues, "election integrity," per the form.

A pastor in Alabama said he received a voice mail Nov 14 from a man falsely claiming to be a reporter with The Washington Post and seeking women “willing to make damaging remarks” about Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in exchange for money.  The call came days after The Post reported on allegations that Moore initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl nearly four decades ago, sparking calls by leading Republicans for him to abandon his campaign for the U.S. Senate in a special election to be held Dec. 12.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Nov 14 again revised his account of what he knew about the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russians, acknowledging for the first time that he recalled a meeting where a foreign policy adviser mentioned having contacts who could possibly broker a meeting between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin. Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Sessions said he now remembered adviser George Papadopoulos saying in March 2016 that he knew people who might be able to help arrange a Trump-Putin meeting.

Facebook and Google told federal election officials they are open to greater oversight over the lucrative business of online political advertising, a shift for the tech giants who acknowledged recently that their ad platforms were exploited by Russian operatives during and after the 2016 election. Google even took a step further than its rivals telling regulators that they should create a broad rule that would ban foreign entities from buying any kind of political ad aimed at influencing voters, not just the ones that mention candidates.

Facebook says that it supports the government’s push to further regulate election ads on digital platforms, but qualifies that it wants flexible rules.The company explained in comments it sent to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that new regulations should give “advertisers flexibility to meet their disclaimer obligations in innovative ways that take full advantage of the technological advance.” The firm explained that by “technological advances,” it means instead of firm rules requiring specific text to show up on political ads on its platform, Facebook would instead like to see a pro

Journalists working for Facebook say the social media site’s fact-checking tools have largely failed and that the company has exploited their labor for a public relations campaign. Several fact checkers who work for independent news organizations and partner with Facebook said that they feared their relationships with the technology corporation, some of which are paid, have created a conflict of interest, making it harder for the news outlets to scrutinize and criticize Facebook’s role in spreading misinformation.

[Commentary] Some supporters of U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore have come right out and said they do not believe four women who claim the Alabama Republican pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.