Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Clinton Team Cynically Exploits 'Cyberbullying' to Justify $1 Million
Online Propaganda Push
________________________________________
Clinton Team Cynically Exploits 'Cyberbullying' to Justify $1 Million Online
Propaganda Push
By Adam Johnson [1] / AlterNet [2]
April 25, 2016
Friday, Clinton super PAC Correct the Record announced [3] it was starting a
million-dollar social media campaign to "push back" against online criticism
of Clinton supporters and her superdelegates. It's a plan awash in PR
posture about "cyberbullying" that amounts to little more than a classic
social media astroturf campaign-the likes of which we've seen everywhere
from Russia [4] to Mexico [5] to the Department of Defense [6].
Clinton's super PAC is spending lots of money for some combination of real
and automated persona management to counter hostile messages on social
media.
This was timed with an effort by the Clinton campaign, who ran an
anti-"cyberbullying" message to two uncritical outlets: MSNBC [7] and CNN
[8]-neither of which connected Clinton's otherwise non sequitur concern for
cyberbullying with her super PAC's parallel effort to frame online critics
as such to justify a million-dollar astroturfing effort.
How can the campaign and Correct the Record coordinate such an effort?
Simple: the Clinton campaign and its most influential super PAC guru David
Brock have argued [9] they can coordinate messaging, so long as it's online
and not an "independent expenditure." As the Sunlight Foundation's Libby
Watson explained [10] to the Daily Beast:
Super PACs aren't supposed to coordinate with candidates. The whole
reasoning behind (Supreme Court decision) Citizens United rests on (PACs)
being independent, but Correct the Record claims it can coordinate. It's not
totally clear what their reasoning is, but it seems to be that material
posted on the Internet for free-like, blogs-doesn't count as an "independent
expenditure."
While Clinton supporters have indeed been subject to online harassment-as I
noted [11] in February-there's little reason to suspect they've been alone
(one Tumblr [12] that collects tweets and Facebook posts showing Sanders and
his partisans being attacked makes this clear). It's also worth highlighting
that Clinton's super PAC Correct the Record has already been using paid
trolls to message on social media. Buried in Correct the Record's press
release [13] is this interesting nugget: "the task force currently combats
online political harassment, having already addressed more than 5,000
individuals who have personally attacked Secretary Clinton on Twitter." So,
there's a greater than trivial chance you've already run across one of these
bots if you're on Twitter.
Some have accused Sanders of participating in the same activities, but the
Daily Beast was quick to report that there is no evidence [14] the Vermont
senator has engaged in such practices.
There's a foul stench of cynicism with framing routine social media
astroturfing as an anti-bullying effort, but it's also par for course. There
isn't a social media astroturfing effort in the history of the practice that
hasn't argued that it's simply pushing back against "misinformation" or
harassment.
Indeed, what Clinton is doing is no different than what Russian President
Vladimir Putin has long been criticized [15] for: paying for some
combination of automated software and real people to spam social media and
comment sections with propaganda. The difference is in the framing: Clinton
is "pushing back" against "bullies" while Putin is "paying troll farms" to
disseminate "propaganda."
The similarities don't stop there. Clinton is apparently spending the exact
same amount on her astroturf effort as Putin did, according to a 2014
Buzzfeed report [16] on Putin's "troll army":
Kremlin campaign to claim control over the Internet, launching a
million-dollar army of trolls to mold American public opinion...
A similar framing disparity is seen when the Israeli government uses social
media sock puppets vs. when Russia does. Notice: Israel "pay[s] students" to
"defend it online," while Russia has "professional trolls" spread "online
propaganda":
But the practice is the same; all that's different is how it's framed-and
thus far, the Clinton camp's scrappy "pushing back" framing remains
unchallenged.
The Bernie Bro bully narrative has been a favorite of the Clinton campaign's
high-profile defenders-largely because it allows them to gloss over policy
differences and avoid legitimate criticism-so it's logical her super PAC
communications team would frame one of the most powerful people in the
world, a former secretary of state and senator who has made tens of millions
since leaving public office, as a victim under siege by a mob of foaming
Sanders zealots.
Adam Johnson is a contributing writer at AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter at
@adamjohnsonnyc [17].
Share on Facebook Share
Share on Twitter Tweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [18]
[19]
________________________________________
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/clinton-cynically-exploits-cyberbullyi
ng-justify-use-online-sock-puppets
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/adam-johnson-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://t.co/vLeyoeh2nm
[4]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/02/putin-kremlin-inside-russian-tr
oll-house
[5] http://motherboard.vice.com/read/weapons-of-mass-persuasion
[6]
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-n
etworks
[7]
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-vows-not-respond-trump
-insults-n560656
[8]
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/22/politics/hillary-clinton-cyberbullying-interne
t/
[9]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/05/12/how-a-super-
pac-plans-to-coordinate-directly-with-hillary-clintons-campaign/
[10]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/21/hillary-pac-spends-1-millio
n-to-correct-commenters-on-reddit-and-facebook.html
[11]
http://www.alternet.org/media/term-bernie-bro-over-used-smear-even-krugman-u
sed-it-dismiss-criticism-clinton
[12] http://berniebrowho.tumblr.com/
[13]
http://correctrecord.org/barrier-breakers-2016-a-project-of-correct-the-reco
rd/
[14]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/23/bernie-sanders-campaign-we-
don-t-pay-for-comments-thank-you.html
[15] http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/03/news/russia-troll-factory-putin/
[16]
http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-
america#.vuxJDNy9Rl
[17] https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonnyc
[18] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Clinton Team Cynically
Exploits 'Cyberbullying' to Justify $1 Million Online Propaganda
Push
[19] http://www.alternet.org/
[20] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Clinton Team Cynically Exploits 'Cyberbullying' to Justify $1 Million
Online Propaganda Push
Clinton Team Cynically Exploits 'Cyberbullying' to Justify $1 Million Online
Propaganda Push
By Adam Johnson [1] / AlterNet [2]
April 25, 2016
Friday, Clinton super PAC Correct the Record announced [3] it was starting a
million-dollar social media campaign to "push back" against online criticism
of Clinton supporters and her superdelegates. It's a plan awash in PR
posture about "cyberbullying" that amounts to little more than a classic
social media astroturf campaign-the likes of which we've seen everywhere
from Russia [4] to Mexico [5] to the Department of Defense [6].
Clinton's super PAC is spending lots of money for some combination of real
and automated persona management to counter hostile messages on social
media.
This was timed with an effort by the Clinton campaign, who ran an
anti-"cyberbullying" message to two uncritical outlets: MSNBC [7] and CNN
[8]-neither of which connected Clinton's otherwise non sequitur concern for
cyberbullying with her super PAC's parallel effort to frame online critics
as such to justify a million-dollar astroturfing effort.
How can the campaign and Correct the Record coordinate such an effort?
Simple: the Clinton campaign and its most influential super PAC guru David
Brock have argued [9] they can coordinate messaging, so long as it's online
and not an "independent expenditure." As the Sunlight Foundation's Libby
Watson explained [10] to the Daily Beast:
Super PACs aren't supposed to coordinate with candidates. The whole
reasoning behind (Supreme Court decision) Citizens United rests on (PACs)
being independent, but Correct the Record claims it can coordinate. It's not
totally clear what their reasoning is, but it seems to be that material
posted on the Internet for free-like, blogs-doesn't count as an "independent
expenditure."
While Clinton supporters have indeed been subject to online harassment-as I
noted [11] in February-there's little reason to suspect they've been alone
(one Tumblr [12] that collects tweets and Facebook posts showing Sanders and
his partisans being attacked makes this clear). It's also worth highlighting
that Clinton's super PAC Correct the Record has already been using paid
trolls to message on social media. Buried in Correct the Record's press
release [13] is this interesting nugget: "the task force currently combats
online political harassment, having already addressed more than 5,000
individuals who have personally attacked Secretary Clinton on Twitter." So,
there's a greater than trivial chance you've already run across one of these
bots if you're on Twitter.
Some have accused Sanders of participating in the same activities, but the
Daily Beast was quick to report that there is no evidence [14] the Vermont
senator has engaged in such practices.
There's a foul stench of cynicism with framing routine social media
astroturfing as an anti-bullying effort, but it's also par for course. There
isn't a social media astroturfing effort in the history of the practice that
hasn't argued that it's simply pushing back against "misinformation" or
harassment.
Indeed, what Clinton is doing is no different than what Russian President
Vladimir Putin has long been criticized [15] for: paying for some
combination of automated software and real people to spam social media and
comment sections with propaganda. The difference is in the framing: Clinton
is "pushing back" against "bullies" while Putin is "paying troll farms" to
disseminate "propaganda."
The similarities don't stop there. Clinton is apparently spending the exact
same amount on her astroturf effort as Putin did, according to a 2014
Buzzfeed report [16] on Putin's "troll army":
Kremlin campaign to claim control over the Internet, launching a
million-dollar army of trolls to mold American public opinion...
A similar framing disparity is seen when the Israeli government uses social
media sock puppets vs. when Russia does. Notice: Israel "pay[s] students" to
"defend it online," while Russia has "professional trolls" spread "online
propaganda":
But the practice is the same; all that's different is how it's framed-and
thus far, the Clinton camp's scrappy "pushing back" framing remains
unchallenged.
The Bernie Bro bully narrative has been a favorite of the Clinton campaign's
high-profile defenders-largely because it allows them to gloss over policy
differences and avoid legitimate criticism-so it's logical her super PAC
communications team would frame one of the most powerful people in the
world, a former secretary of state and senator who has made tens of millions
since leaving public office, as a victim under siege by a mob of foaming
Sanders zealots.
Adam Johnson is a contributing writer at AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter at
@adamjohnsonnyc [17].
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [18]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[19]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/clinton-cynically-exploits-cyberbullyi
ng-justify-use-online-sock-puppets
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/adam-johnson-0
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://t.co/vLeyoeh2nm
[4]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/02/putin-kremlin-inside-russian-tr
oll-house
[5] http://motherboard.vice.com/read/weapons-of-mass-persuasion
[6]
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-n
etworks
[7]
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/clinton-vows-not-respond-trump
-insults-n560656
[8]
http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/22/politics/hillary-clinton-cyberbullying-interne
t/
[9]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/05/12/how-a-super-
pac-plans-to-coordinate-directly-with-hillary-clintons-campaign/
[10]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/21/hillary-pac-spends-1-millio
n-to-correct-commenters-on-reddit-and-facebook.html
[11]
http://www.alternet.org/media/term-bernie-bro-over-used-smear-even-krugman-u
sed-it-dismiss-criticism-clinton
[12] http://berniebrowho.tumblr.com/
[13]
http://correctrecord.org/barrier-breakers-2016-a-project-of-correct-the-reco
rd/
[14]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/23/bernie-sanders-campaign-we-
don-t-pay-for-comments-thank-you.html
[15] http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/03/news/russia-troll-factory-putin/
[16]
http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/documents-show-how-russias-troll-army-hit-
america#.vuxJDNy9Rl
[17] https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonnyc
[18] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Clinton Team Cynically
Exploits 'Cyberbullying' to Justify $1 Million Online Propaganda
Push
[19] http://www.alternet.org/
[20] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
