TikTok Politics

Advertising

TikTok failed to stop most misleading political ads in a test run by researchers.NYTimes.com"TikTok failed to catch 90 percent of ads featuring false and misleading messages about elections, while YouTube and Facebook identified and blocked most of them, according to an experiment run by misinformation researchers, the results of which were released on Friday."

Campaigns Face An Advertising Dilemma in the Final Two WeeksCampaignsAndElections.com"He pointed to New Hampshire, which has a competitive Senate and gubernatorial race, where over the last 30 days a significant majority of OTT impressions (80 percent) are going to a “high-frequency” group of voters."

Campaigns

Trump is splitting donations with Blake Masters 99-to-1. It could be a boon for Masters anyway.Politico.com"Even though the donation split is dramatic, Republican digital operatives said it benefits Masters by giving him access to a group of donors he otherwise wouldn’t have. Someone who donated $5 total through the email — which would have generated 5 cents for Masters — would still be giving Masters access to their contact information. Later on, he can hit them up for more money himself."

Data

Why Am I Seeing That Political Ad? Check Your ‘Trump Resistance’ Score.NYTimes.com"The process can involve classifying more than 150 million voters — using ratings like “gay marriage” scores or “non-Christian” scores — on personal beliefs they might have assumed were private. The scoring systems can also enable campaigns to quietly aim different, and perhaps contradictory, messages at different voters with little public accountability or oversight."

Disinformation

What makes an election rumor go viral? Look at these 10 factorsNiemanLab.org"Rumors emerge and thrive under uncertainty. When people feel a sense of uncertainty about a particular topic — perhaps due to a lack of timely information — they come together to try to resolve that uncertainty, participating in what’s called 'sensemaking.'"

Email

RNC sues Google claiming spam filter blocks emailAxios.com"The RNC argues in the lawsuit that despite discussing the email issue with Google for more than nine months, it remains unresolved, alleging Google is sending emails to spam on purpose due to political bias."

If I Emailed My Parents Like Democrats Email MeMcSweeneys.net"Mom, we don’t have a moment to spare. I’m asking—no, BEGGING—for you to chip in ASAP. If every parent reading this email contributes just $197.50 by midnight, we can defend the shirt I just bought from being returned this November."

International

Singapore’s politicians are strangely popular on TikTokRestOfWorld.org"Since the last general elections in mid-2020, more than 20 staid Singaporean politicians and parties have embraced TikTok. Many are younger leaders from the incumbent People’s Action Party (PAP), which has held power for more than six decades."

Social Media

More Americans are getting news on TikTok, bucking the trend on other social media sitesPewResearch.org"In just two years, the share of U.S. adults who say they regularly get news from TikTok has roughly tripled, from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022."

Some Democrats dip a toe in TikTok as most Republicans stay awayNBCNews.com"NBC News found that nine Democratic candidates in this year’s 35 Senate races are posting to TikTok, while three Republican Senate candidates are using it. The most prominent of them, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, hasn’t posted in more than a month. All nine Democrats posted this month."

Technology

Rethinking Political InnovationDaveKarpf.Substack.com"It had started as a political innovation, but had become essential enough, for long enough, that it had become political infrastructure instead. Infrastructure is expensive. It isn’t exciting for major donors."

Big Tech Moves (Slightly) to the Right: Employee Contributions Show Silicon Valley’s Growing Embrace of ConservativesTheInformation.com"The Information’s analysis of political giving by employees of Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta shows that 15% of donations have gone to Republican candidates or political action committees this election cycle. That figure is up from 5% in 2020 and 8% in 2018."