New indication (Manafort) that president's campaign used big data to influence voters (Daily Beast)

[sharedvalues]

In this Daily Beast article, there was a very intriguing fact buried near the end.

Manafort talked to Ukrainians about microtargeting voters on social media in 2014.

America is going to have a reckoning about how social media was used to influence voters in this election. We want to see the ads aired on Facebook, and who they were shown to. So far, Facebook has kept that data internal.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/05/26/ukrainians-say-fbi-questioning-them-about-manafortat-last

“Manafort asked us whether we had a fresh database, sociology and data for micro-targeting,” said Bondarenko. He knew Manafort as a fast network builder. “When I heard him ask us about micro-targeting, I saw that he was well-informed about the new technologies.” The technique studies the needs and preferences of all social layers, depending on their activities online—their searches on Google, likes on social networks, and such. Various companies, most famously Cambridge Analytica, which worked on the Brexit and Trump campaigns, have made these techniques famous, or infamous.

Based on what Bondarenko saw Manafort do in Ukraine, he says he is convinced Manafort ran what Bondarenko calls “parallel networks” to boost the Trump campaign.
“Trump won because of Manafort,” says Bondarenko. “In Ukraine he created so-called ‘volunteer’ groups, which clearly received compensation but who could gather a protest, if needed, or go around and spread a message about a competitor or fliers.” Bondarenko said this was done by “working with the same kind of mobile groups of hundreds of people in every state. You look at them and think they are just a group of fans, but they were the actual campaigners.”

[applegrove]

1. Saw somewhere that people in Pennsylvania, Michigan and I think Minnisota were

microtargeted by Russia. Can't remember where I saw that.

[Stallion]

3. Louise Mensch 3 Months Ago

Link to tweet

[applegrove]

4. Nope. It was recent. A man announced it.

[pnwmom]

7. Another report of hers confirmed then. nt

[Leghorn21]

2. Trump won because of Manafort"

BRING
ME
MANAFORT

where y'at, Paulie
Talk to me
Sing to me

"don't run you'll die tired"
- Broadsword_6

[BzaDem]

5. "Using big data" and "microtargeting" are common techniques used by both sides in modern campaigns.

Manafort has a super shady background, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he were indicted. But it won't be for using "big data" or "microtargeting." (It might be for some of the other stuff mentioned in the article you linked.)

[LisaL]

6. Well, exactly.

Isn't that what all campaigns do?

[pnwmom]

8. Stealing emails and FB data for micro targeting isn't a common technique for Democrats. n/t

[sharedvalues]

9. If they used lies in their microtargeted ads it could be illegal

Yes modern campaigns use large databases to target voters.

But see this. Campaign law requires identification of certain ads.
(Also it.goes without saying that if any money came from Russia or if voter data was hacked by Russia and provided to the the campaign this would be illegal.)


https://medium.com/startup-grind/how-the-trump-campaign-built-an-identity-database-and-used-facebook-ads-to-win-the-election-4ff7d24269ac

For example, Trump’s digital team created a South Park-style animation of Hillary Clinton delivering the “super predator” line (using audio from her original 1996 sound bite), as cartoon text popped up around her: “Hillary Thinks African Americans are Super Predators.” Then, Trump’s animated “super predator” political advertisement was delivered to certain African American voters via Facebook “dark posts” — nonpublic paid posts shown only to the Facebook users that Trump chose.

Facebook is refusing to release a copy of the animated “Hillary Thinks African Americans are Super Predators” advertisement, or any other ‘negative’ presidential political ad that it ran. Facebook is also refusing to release details about the gender, ethnic, or location targeting parameters of these ads. Until further review, it’s uncertain if these targeted political advertisements are fully compliant with federal law.