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How Elon Musk is disrupting US elections to boost Trump (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 3 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

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[-] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 121 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I was wondering how one can defraud a voter...

The 15-second ad ends with a message to “REGISTER TO VOTE NOW.”

Users are asked for their address, phone number and age. After they hit submit, they’re told “thank you” — and that’s it.

By the end of their visit to Musk’s PAC website, not only were they not registered to vote, they also ended up handing over extremely valuable data to a billionaire-backed operation.

It’s unclear whether the stunt broke any campaign finance laws

That does seem like it goes beyond mere lying and into fraud, but I'm not a lawyer.

[+] shalafi@lemmy.world -30 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I see no law broken, and also INAL.

Nothing was offered in exchange for anything. The message was, "Register to vote now!" Didn't say they would help you with that.

We need legislation regarding things like this, can't imagine what that looks like. Law doesn't have, "that doesn't seem right" provisions.

The interesting question is, "How do we tackle shit like this that suckers idiots?" American law is distinctly against the notion of, "I didn't know better!"

Does contract law apply in any way? I'm rambling here, someone step up with facts and precedence.

[-] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago

Also not a lawyer, but OPs article is less complete than this article as far as Musk's operation went.

According to CNBC, the PAC asked website visitors who entered zip codes in battleground states to enter personal data — including dates of birth, full addresses and phone numbers — claiming it would help them register to vote through the site. Users in non-competitive states, however, were directed to their states' official voter registration pages.

Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia were among the battleground states where visitors to America PAC's website did not receive help submitting their voter registration despite the site claiming it would provide assistance, CNBC noted.

The site said it would help them register, took their information then, if they weren't from a battle ground state, forwarded them to their state's voter registration page. If they were from a battleground state, the site harvested their information, said thanks, and then failed to register them. That is likely fraud according at least two different states that are investigating the matter.

[-] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

Ah! Now we have a claim offering something. That seems to change the whole offer. But again, not like I know shit about contract law.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 68 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The dangerous thing about disinformation campaigns is that by the time something is done about it, the damage is already done.

A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes

[-] worldwidewave@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

And unfortunately all of the liars seem to be rooting for the orange guy. The only one we’ve got is the couch rumor starter.

[-] nilloc@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Part of any punishment should be the requirement to personally visit every person who was misled, with a Notary Public present, and bring them an official voter registration form to ensure they are allowed to vote.

Then dissolve the fucking PAC and ban its creators from forming another one for life. We need to stop tolerating the intolerance.

[-] ptz@dubvee.org 2 points 3 months ago

I mean, at minimum.

If you look at a successful disinformation campaign like a natural disaster, it's much worse than it appears. After a tornado, earthquake, flood, etc, you can just rebuild. But getting people to "un-learn" something they want to believe, no matter how much you prove it was based on lies, is damn near impossible.

[-] memfree@lemmy.ml 63 points 3 months ago

I'm going to be repeating this whenever this ad blitz is mentioned because it is MUCH WORSE than you think. America PAC is partially funded by Musk and his old pals at Palantir. They sell data and analyses of it. You might get registered to vote if your state is a solid red or blue, but CNBC reports (archive):

[...] users who enter a ZIP code that indicates they live in a battleground state, like Pennsylvania or Georgia, the process is very different.

Rather than be directed to their state’s voter registration page, they instead are directed to a highly detailed personal information form, prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age.

So that person who wanted help registering to vote? In the end, they got no help at all registering. But they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation.

“What makes America PAC more unique: it is a billionaire-backed super PAC focused on door-to-door canvassing, which it can conduct in coordination with a presidential campaign,” Fischer said. “Thanks to a recent FEC advisory opinion, America PAC may legally coordinate its canvassing activities with the Trump campaign — meaning, among other things, that the Trump campaign may provide America PAC with the literature and scripts to make sure their efforts are consistent.”

The America PAC raised more than $8 million between April 1 and June 30, according to FEC records. It has received donations from veteran investor Doug Leone, cryptocurrency investors Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and a company run by longtime venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, according to FEC records.

They also quote the NYT in saying Lonsdale is one of Musk's political confidants -- which is interesting because he's at Palantir which was you'd think of as his buddy Peter Theil's gig. Again, Palantir sells information, so in all likelihood they are going to take that input to figure out exactly how to target people to 'vote Trump' using the very information the public gave them for free!

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 26 points 3 months ago

He's going to lose the company if he can't deliver this election for Trump.

Saudis didn't buy it for nothing.

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 12 points 3 months ago

Either that or he'll end up losing his government contracts, imagine if we gave those subsidies to companies to convert old cars to electric rather than tesla. I can garuntee you as well most of said old cars would be better made.

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

convert old cars to electric

Is this a thing that people are doing...? In any kind of bulk?

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

No. Just hobbyists and a few specialty shops doing one-off conversions. It’s very difficult to convert a ICE car to electric with any meaningful efficiency. You can absolutely buy a kit to do it, but that’s going to be pricey, require significant mechanical knowledge, and won’t have the efficiency or range of a purpose-built EV.

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

Theres a couple scattered companies but its still expensive on a raw manpower and time level. Still better to use what we have IMO than make something new, you should only abandon things like cars when the frame itself breaks.

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

This doesn't sound realistic at all at the moment. It's not even remotely simple (or cost-effective) to convert the vast majority of existing cars to electric.

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

No but it should still be an option. Also kits could simplify it down, especially if you use as much of the original parts as possible. For example using the drive train.

[-] Snapz@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 22 points 3 months ago

Shitbag needs to be kicked out of the country.

[-] Binzy_Boi@piefed.social 22 points 3 months ago

Don't forget to delete your Twitter account folks. Nothing of value there that you can't get elsewhere.

[-] ripcord@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

but what about my stupid-ass sports updates or apparently weather updates or some shit

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

Muskrat's existence should be disrupted to boost humanity.

[-] Xeroxchasechase@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

And how nothing can legally stop him

[-] MediaBiasFactChecker@lemmy.world -4 points 3 months ago

The Independent - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

Information for The Independent:

MBFC: Left-Center - Credibility: Medium - Factual Reporting: Mixed - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this source

Search topics on Ground.News

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-grok-trump-election-b2593939.html

Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

[-] TrickDacy@lemmy.world -1 points 3 months ago

Good bot

[-] Beetschnapps@lemmy.world -3 points 3 months ago

LOUD NOISES! Bad bot.

Stop with the double layer drop downs that interrupt reading comment feeds and makes for a click/tap minefield.

this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2024

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