Comment by Manuel_D
14 hours ago
Russia illegally spent something like $100,000 on political ads. Thats basically nothing compared to aggregate political spending.
14 hours ago
Russia illegally spent something like $100,000 on political ads. Thats basically nothing compared to aggregate political spending.
It is mind blowing to me that this fact is not widely understood. A mountain was made out of a molehill. $4B was spent in 2016. $12B in 2024. Yet $100,000 somehow is believed to have made any difference whatsoever. Literally 0.0025% of the total in 2016.
*Source: https://www.emarketer.com/content/political-ad-spend-nearly-...
This is, of course, because both USA political parties run their own propaganda machines
Because it's a good scapegoat, why take responsibility for losing an election when you can easily shift the blame to someone else?
Meanwhile US channels this propaganda money through no profits.
Yup exactly the same thing is happening only with money laundered through nonprofits and political pacs. Once its there the same buy data and place ads & influence is completely legal - which makes the singled out ban on TikTok at odds with the stated purpose of it
It's not the "exact same thing" since it's legal spending. If you and your friends want to pool money together and put up billboards promoting carbon free energy solutions, congrats you've formed a political PAC.
This is distinct from a foreign entity, without registering as a foreign entity, directly participating in electioneering. While it's true that the Russian involvement in 2016 was overblown let's not pretend it's the same as legal political spending.
1 reply →