CfA's August 7, 2020 Newsletter

Our Latest Work:

• CfA Asks Veterans Affairs IG to Investigate Possible Improper Influence by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy: On Tuesday, CfA filed a complaint with the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs asking for an investigation into whether House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) unduly interfered in the award of a contract to build a new VA clinic within his district in Bakersfield, California. (Press Release, Complaint)
• Instagram’s Selective Hashtag Blocking Favored Trump, Hurt Biden: On Wednesday, CfA and TTP released a report revealing unequal treatment of Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Instagram. By selectively applying the app's "related hashtags" feature, Instagram has shielded President Trump from potentially negative hashtags while allowing parallel content about Joe Biden to be hijacked by disinformation and smears. (Press Release, Report)
  • The report was covered by BuzzFeed, Tech Crunch, The Verge, Engadget, and others.
• CfA Files Bar Complaint Against Lane Ruhland Alleging Potential Legal Ethics Violations: On Friday, CfA filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Office of Lawyer Regulation seeking an investigation into whether attorney Lane Ruhland engaged in conduct inconsistent with her ethical obligations as a member of the Wisconsin Bar by working for the campaigns of both Kanye West and Trump. (Press Release, Complaint)
  • Representing these competing campaigns appears to violate Ms. Ruhland’s ethical obligations under Wisconsin Bar Rules to avoid representing parties where there is a conflict of interests between the parties.

What We're Reading:

• Anti-abortion centers receive at least $4m from US coronavirus bailout: “Anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers across the US received at least $4m and possibly over $10m in forgivable federal loans as part of the paycheck protection program (PPP). Meanwhile, the SBA has tried to claw back $80m Planned Parenthood received from the PPP.” (The Guardian, August 3)
• U.S. Democrats issue subpoenas in probe of State Department watchdog firing: "The three panels are looking into the May 15 firing of Linick, one of a series of federal government watchdogs fired by Trump. Members of Congress, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, are concerned that the dismissals will prevent adequate oversight of the government." (Reuters, August 3)
• Facebook Fired An Employee Who Collected Evidence Of Right-Wing Pages Getting Preferential Treatment: "'It appears that policy people have been intervening in fact-checks on behalf of *exclusively* right-wing publishers, to avoid them getting repeat-offender status,' wrote an employee in the company’s internal 'misinformation policy' discussion group." (BuzzFeed, August 6)

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