CfA's November 13, 2020 Newsletter

Our Recent Work:

• TTP Investigation: Stop the Steal Memo: TTP sent a memo to reporters describing efforts by Former Tea Party chairwoman Amy Kremer and her daughter Kylie Jane Kremer across social media platforms, including in hugely subscribed Facebook groups, urging followers ginned up on false claims of election fraud to show up at sites and intimidate workers counting ballots. Facebook failed to take down the original Stop The Steal page in a timely manner even as dangerous misinformation flooded the page. 

What We're Reading:

• Donations Under $8K to Trump ‘Election Defense’ Instead Go To President, RNC: "As President Donald Trump seeks to discredit last week’s election with baseless claims of voter fraud, his team has bombarded his supporters with requests for money to help pay for legal challenges to the results: “The Left will try to STEAL this election!” reads one text. But any small-dollar donations from Trump’s grassroots donors won’t be going to legal expenses at all, according to a Reuters review of the legal language in the solicitations. A donor would have to give more than $8,000 before any money goes to the “recount account” established to finance election challenges, including recounts and lawsuits over alleged improprieties, the fundraising disclosures show." (Reuters, November 11)
• ‘Cesspool Of Misinformation’: Parler Tops US App Downloads Following Trump’s Election Loss: "Controversial social media platform Parler has topped app downloads in the United States following Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump. The app pitches itself as an “unbiased” social media platform that safeguards free speech, eschews fact checking, and rails against the “ideological bias” of Silicon Valley giants Facebook and Twitter. But critics have slammed Parler as a cesspool of extreme far-right views and conspiracy theories about QAnon, and a vehicle for dangerous misinformation and disinformation." (The New Daily, November 10)
• Tech Platforms Continue to Let U.S.-Based Hate Groups Use Them to Make Payments: "Technology platforms including PayPal, Stripe, Facebook and Amazon are accepting payments to hate groups in the United States, even though some have explicit policies preventing their use to facilitate hate or violence. According to an analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an anti-extremism think tank, and the Global Disinformation Index, a nonprofit research group, seen exclusively by NBC News, 73 U.S.-based hate groups have had access to at least 54 online funding mechanisms. The access includes crowdfunding, e-commerce, online payment tools and cryptocurrencies through Oct. 3. Thirty-two of the hate groups have nonprofit status, which allows them to raise money through charity fundraising platforms." (NBC News, October 27)

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