Advertising

Texas could require social media influencers to disclose paid political posts
Texas Tribune
“The Texas Ethics Commission’s action comes just months after The Texas Tribune reported that a secretive and politically-connected company, called Influenceable LLC, paid internet influencers to defend Attorney General Ken Paxton ahead of his Senate impeachment trial.”

Campaigns

Inside A Modern Campaign Ground Game – Jon Seaton (Camelback Strategy Group)
Business of Politics Show
"Jon and I dig into the changing nature of the campaign ground game, how data and technology have transformed door knocking, and the rise of paid canvassing."

RFK Jr. laps 2024 presidential field on TikTok
Axios
“With 1.1 million TikTok followers, Kennedy has some of the most of any U.S. politician, according to the political newsletter FWIW, which tracks digital spending and strategy.

“The Biden campaign, which joined TikTok last month, has just under 273,000 followers on the platform.”

Content

Election Year Audience Erosion Continues for Right Wing Websites
The Righting
"Eighty-six percent experienced declines of 44% or more. TheRighting’s analysis looked at February 2024 unique visitors and compared it to February 2020 traffic. Only one right wing news website posted a year-over-year (YOY) traffic increase in TheRighting’s top 15 election year comparison."

Email

I studied 180K-plus emails from members of Congress. Republicans design their communication more strategically than Democrats
Fast Company
"In every month I’ve been tracking these messages—except briefly in the middle of 2010, when Democrats held 59% of all the seats in Congress, and for 9 of the 11 months at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and early 2021—Republicans have sent many more official e-newsletters to constituents than Democrats have.

“Republicans also tend to be more attuned to the leisure reading habits of people. They send a greater number of their emails on weekends when people are likely to have weekend time to take them in. Democrats are more likely to send their messages during the workweek."

Fundraising

How Republicans texted and emailed their way into a money problem
Washington Post
“It’s easy to blame texts and emails, but people don’t want to state the obvious: There’s far more competition in the space,” Moffatt said. “As more races come on board, more people are competing. It used to be 50 people trying to talk to them; now it’s 150, even if the donors have grown 25 percent.”

International

TikTok curtails German far right’s top EU election candidate
Politico Europe
"The ban, which lasts 90 days, will be lifted after the European election. German voters head to the polls on June 9."

Brazil Implements Regulations on AI Usage in Elections
Hacker Noon
"The rules involve prohibiting all types of deep fakes; the obligation to warn about the use of AI in electoral propaganda, even if it is in neutral videos and photos; and the restriction of the use of robots to mediate contact with voters (the campaign cannot simulate dialogue with the candidate or any other person, for example)."

Social Media

Instagram’s Political Content Limit: Everything to Know
TIME
“This is not okay,” civil rights attorney Scott Hechinger posted on X (formerly Twitter). “Instagram is now trying to suppress political content just months before the next presidential election. Why is Meta attempting to censor the democratic process?” asked Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee."

Technology

States are cracking down on deepfakes ahead of the 2024 election
ABC News
"Since January of last year, 41 states have introduced election-related deepfake bans, according to tracking by Public Citizen. Eight states have enacted laws regulating deepfakes, joining California and Texas, which in 2019 banned the use of deepfakes in elections."