Campaigns

Trump Super PAC to join TikTok with @MAGA handle
Fox News
"'We aren’t trying to set policy, we are trying to win an election,' Budowich said."

Divided Trump campaign weighs joining TikTok, the app he tried to ban
Washington Post
"Conway has told Trump that he has more supporters than Biden on the app and that many young people are forming their opinions based on what they see on their TikTok feeds."

The Rise of the Gen Z Biden Stans
FWIW
"Each has hundreds of thousands of followers across social platforms; for Sisson, that number is well over a million. Their captions are sometimes written in ALL CAPS for extra emphasis, and their favorite platforms are TikTok or YouTube, where they carefully optimize their thumbnails in the style of Mr. Beast."

Fundraising

Spring 2024 Republican Donor Survey
Medium
"The second most frequent issue is the volume of messages, with numerous donors reporting 100+ messages a day — to the point that it is interfering with receiving non-political messages."

International

Mexico is in a crisis. Political candidates are busy dancing on TikTok
Rest of World
"In June, Mexicans will vote for more than 20,000 posts, including for Congress, state governorships, and local representatives. Nearly a third of Mexico’s electorate — some 26.2 million people — is between 18 and 29 years of age. And the country is enthusiastic about social media: Last year, 93.2% of internet users were on Facebook and 76.5% on TikTok. It’s no surprise that a viral post, dance, or jingle is a top prize this campaign season."

Social Media

Meta’s New Default Limits on “Political Content” Weaken Free Expression Online
Tech Policy Press
"A larger implication of such a major consequential change is that it illuminates how Meta, and many other online platforms we rely on, wield extraordinary unchecked power over our entire information ecosystem. The circulation of our most basic news and civic information now reaches us predominantly via these channels that are controlled by companies that can make changes like this at will – deciding, without transparency or accountability, what will or will not reach us. That is indeed a topic that affects 'society at large.'"

The Risks and Rewards of Using Influencers to Get Out the Vote
Precision Strategies
"In 2022, despite strong investment in influencer partnerships, youth voter turnout was still lower than previous years, with voters under 50 representing just 36% of the electorate in 2022 compared to 40% in 2014 according to Pew Research Center."

Technology

Brad Parscale helped Trump win in 2016 using Facebook ads. Now he’s back, and an AI evangelist
Associated Press
"Parscale has said Campaign Nucleus can send voters customized emails and use data analytics to predict voters’ feelings. The platform can also amplify 'anti-woke' influencers who have large followings on social media, according to his company’s documents and videos."

Nervous about falling behind the GOP, Democrats are wrestling with how to use AI
Associated Press
"Emails written by AI, Alter said, brought in between three and four times more fundraising dollars per work hour compared with emails written by staff."

Online Voting: The Essentials
Democracy Technologies
"In Estonia’s 2023 parliamentary elections, 51% of voters cast their ballot using the country’s online voting platform. It was the first time anywhere in the world that a majority of votes were cast online in a major election."