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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow the Trump Campaign's Mobile App Is Collecting Massive Amounts of Voter Data
Link to tweet
https://www.newyorker.com/news/campaign-chronicles/the-trump-campaigns-mobile-app-is-collecting-massive-amounts-of-voter-data
Since the Trump campaign set up a shell company called American Made Media Consultants, in 2018, an entity it describes as a vendor responsible for arranging and executing media buys and related services at fair market value, its been nearly impossible to know whom the campaign is paying, for what, and how much. But, on May 27th, Alan Knitowski, the C.E.O. of Phunware, an Austin-based ad broker and software company, announced a strategic relationship with American Made Media Consultants on the development, launch and ongoing management and evolution of the Trump-Pence 2020 Reelection Campaigns mobile application portfolio. Although Phunware never showed up in the campaigns F.E.C. reports, Phunwares S.E.C. filings show that, since last year, it has been paid around four million dollars by A.M.M.C.
On its face, Phunware seems like a strange choice to develop the campaigns app. Before working for President Trump, Phunwares software was being used in relatively few applications, the most popular being a horoscope app. And, since 2019, it has been embroiled in a lawsuit with Uber, a former client of the companys ad-placement business. The dispute stems from a yearlong investigation by two former Phunware employees who discovered that the company was pretending to place Uber ads on Web sites like CNN when, in fact, they were appearing on pornography sites, among others, if they appeared at all. But, according to former Phunware employees and business associates, the companys value to the Trump campaign is not in software development. The Trump campaign is not paying Phunware four million dollars for an app, a former business partner of the company told me. They are paying for data. They are paying for targeted advertising services. Imagine if every time I open my phone I see a campaign message that Joe Bidens America means were going to have war in the streets. Thats the service the Trump campaign and Brad Parscalethe Trump campaigns senior adviser for data and digital operationshave bought from Phunware. An app is just part of the package.
The Trump 2020 app is a massive data-collection tool in its own right. When it launched, on April 23rd, Parscale, who was then Trumps campaign manager, urged his followers on Facebook to download the groundbreaking Official Trump 2020 Appunlike other lame political apps youve seen. Despite the hype, the 2020 app recapitulates many of the functions found on the 2016 app. Theres a news feed with Trumps social-media posts, an events calendar, and recorded videos. The gaming features that distinguished the 2016 app are still prominenta Trumps army member who accumulates a hundred thousand points by sharing contacts or raising money is promised a photograph with the President, while other members can use points to get discounts on maga gear. Users are prompted to invite friends to download the appmore points!and can use the app to sign up to make calls on behalf of the campaign, to be a poll watcher, to register voters, and to get tickets to virtual and in-person events.
The most obvious new feature on the 2020 app is a live news broadcast, carefully curated by the campaign to push the Presidents talking points. It is hosted by a cast of campaign surrogates, including Lara Trump, Eric Trumps wife, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, Donald Trump, Jr.,s girlfriend and the campaigns national finance chair. There are also channels aimed at particular demographic groups, among them Women for Trump, Black Voices for Trump, and Latinos for Trump. Though it is a crude approximation of a traditional news outlet, the Trump app enables users to stay fully sequestered within the fact-optional Trump universe. I think everything we do is to counter the media, Parscale told Reuters in June. This is another tool in the tool shed to fight that fight, and its a big tool. In May, after Twitter labelled one of Trumps tweets as being in violation of its standards, sparking renewed claims of liberal-media censorship of conservatives (despite the fact that the tweet was not taken down), downloads of the campaign app soared.
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How the Trump Campaign's Mobile App Is Collecting Massive Amounts of Voter Data (Original Post)
Nevilledog
Sep 2020
OP
msongs
(67,405 posts)1. the dems have anything similar? nt
herding cats
(19,564 posts)3. Not that I'm aware of...
Which is a good thing. It would tick off most thinking people to be invaded on like that.
Thekaspervote
(32,767 posts)2. Okay, so his cult buys into to it..so