A recent claim on Instagram and Twitter pushed the story that Black Lives Matter funding collected from ActBlue goes directly to the Democratic Party and specific candidates. The poster shared an OpenSecrets.org breakdown of ActBlue expenditures in the 2020 cycle, but misrepresented how ActBlue works. ActBlue is primarily an online fundraising platform that left-leaning campaigns and groups use to solicit and collect donations. Like its closest conservative analog, WinRed, ActBlue itself does not donate to candidates or political parties.

This kind of disinformation has become commonplace in an already tense election year. Various memes circulating on social media this month falsely claimed that fast food restaurant Wendy’s is funding Trump’s reelection campaign, spawning the hashtag “WendysIsOverParty” to trend on Twitter. OpenSecrets debunked this claim to point out that while individuals (including employees of a company) and political action committees may contribute to candidates, corporations are barred from contributing directly to federal candidates’ campaigns or political parties.

We need to document and expose social media disinformation related to campaign finance issues in real-time. A new feature on OpenSecrets tracks political ad spending on Facebook and Google, and we closely follow these platforms along with Instagram and Twitter for accuracy on money in politics. But viral sharing is a complex and fast-moving target. You can help counter online disinformation by following our reporting; sharing our articles and data with your networks, and encouraging them to do the same; and by letting us know when you see incidences of mis- and dis-information.

With your support we will continue to fight for accountability.