Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologizes for funding a group tied to disinformation in AL race
Last edited Wed Dec 26, 2018, 06:29 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: The Washington Post
Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologizes for funding a group tied to disinformation in Alabama race
By Tony Romm, Craig Timberg and Aaron C. Davis December 26 at 3:05 PM
Internet billionaire Reid Hoffman apologized Wednesday for funding a group linked to a highly disturbing effort that spread disinformation during last years Alabama special election for U.S. Senate, but he said he was not aware that his money was being used for that purpose.
Hoffmans statement is his first acknowledgment of his ties to a campaign that adopted tactics similar to those deployed by Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential election. In Alabama, the Hoffman-funded group allegedly used Facebook and Twitter to undermine support for Republican Roy Moore and boost Democrat Doug Jones, who narrowly won the race. Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and an early Facebook investor, expressed support for a federal investigation into what happened, echoing Joness position from last week.
Hoffman referred to a group he funded, American Engagement Technologies, or AET, as being involved in an effort to spread disinformation targeting Moore. Hoffman invested $750,000 in the organization, some of which covered its work in Alabama, according to a person close to the matter but not authorized to discuss Hoffmans spending.
The statement left key facts unaddressed, including a full accounting of everyone who crafted and executed the campaign. The effort was the subject of a presentation in September to a group of liberal-leaning technology experts who met in downtown Washington to discuss electoral tactics, according to one of the attendees and documents from the meeting obtained by The Washington Post. This person spoke on the condition of anonymity because those at the gathering were required to sign nondisclosure agreements.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/26/internet-billionaire-reid-hoffman-apologizes-funding-group-behind-disinformation-alabama-race/
50 Shades Of Blue
(9,777 posts)paleotn
(17,781 posts)when the truth is damning enough? Something doesn't smell right.
LiberalFighter
(50,504 posts)0rganism
(23,856 posts)he's sorry, so sorry...
deeply sorry
so very very sorry, the sorriest sorry you've ever seen sorrowed
LiberalFighter
(50,504 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)If you're not going to come clean entirely, then don't pretend to come clean. I see no point in apologizing well after the fact, unless your reputation is on the line, and it has become a big story. Which it hasn't, that I know of.
This is a strange story. Beginning of trying to knock Jones out of his Senatorial seat?
Marcuse
(7,399 posts)Jonathon Morgan, chief executive of the research firm New Knowledge, said he created a Facebook page under false pretenses to test his ability to appeal to conservative voters and bought a small amount of retweets spending less than $10 to measure the potential lift he could achieve in social media messaging.
Morgan said that he took these actions in his own capacity as a researcher seeking to understand the mechanics of disinformation tactics, not as New Knowledges leader, and that neither tactic was intended to affect the outcome of the race between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones, who won the race and is now a U.S. senator.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/19/researcher-affiliated-with-russian-interference-senate-report-used-questionable-online-tactics-during-alabama-senate-race/
brush
(53,475 posts)Was the information verifying that he was a child predator or just hinting at it?