{"id":1637461,"date":"2022-09-09T10:18:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T14:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637461"},"modified":"2022-09-09T10:19:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T14:19:28","slug":"snaps-gop-voter-data-abuse-is-just-another-example-of-big-techs-election-interference-on-behalf-of-democrats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/snaps-gop-voter-data-abuse-is-just-another-example-of-big-techs-election-interference-on-behalf-of-democrats\/","title":{"rendered":"Snap\u2019s GOP Voter Data Abuse Is Just Another Example Of Big Tech\u2019s Election Interference On Behalf Of Democrats"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsnaps-gop-voter-data-abuse-is-just-another-example-of-big-techs-election-interference-on-behalf-of-democrats%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637461&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A so-called \u201cblunder\u201d by social media platform Snap Inc. enabled Democrat-run organizations to gain access to a trove of Republican voter data to \u201chone\u201d their political ads for the upcoming 2022 midterm elections, according to a new report. Formally known as Snapchat Inc., the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/culture\/2016\/09\/snapchat-is-now-snap-inc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rebranded<\/a> in 2016 to include its other products, such as its \u201cSpectacles\u201d glasses.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2022\/09\/08\/snap-voter-data-republican-democrats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Axios<\/a> reported on Wednesday, the \u201cslip-up\u201d by the Big Tech company permitted groups such as \u201cthe Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams\u2019 gubernatorial campaign\u201d to \u201ctarget their ads on the platform using data maintained by the Republican-aligned firm i360.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no indication Snap was aware of or facilitated that data sharing, and the company said it\u2019s taking steps to rectify the oversight,\u201d the report claims. \u201cBut the blunder underscores the sensitivities surrounding reams of voter data that have become a highly valuable political commodity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Axios notes that the issue \u201cimpacted data maintained by both Democratic and Republican data firms,\u201d records reportedly reviewed by the outlet indicate that the data\u2019s \u201cuse by political groups was significantly more prolific on the Democratic side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take full responsibility for this mistake, and as soon as we became aware of it, we notified the two Democratic and Republican vendors who were equally impacted, and took action to correct the issue,\u201d a Snap representative told Axios. \u201cWe are also taking steps to ensure this doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While a self-proclaimed \u201cmistake,\u201d Snap\u2019s voter data mismanagement is hardly the first time a Big Tech company\u2019s actions have benefited the Democrat Party in U.S. elections. Look no further than the 2020 presidential contest, wherein both Facebook and Twitter worked overtime to <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/poll-majority-of-americans-say-big-tech-censorship-of-hunter-laptop-story-interfered-with-election\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">squash<\/a> The New York Post\u2019s report on the Hunter Biden laptop story in the days leading up to the election. <\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/11\/24\/poll-one-in-six-biden-voters-would-have-changed-their-vote-if-they-had-known-about-scandals-suppressed-by-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> at the time, a Media Research Center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbusters.org\/blogs\/nb\/rich-noyes\/2020\/11\/24\/special-report-stealing-presidency-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">survey<\/a> revealed that the censoring of the bombshell story affected voters\u2019 decisions at the ballot box, with 1 in 6 Biden voters surveyed saying \u201cthey would have been less likely to vote for Biden if they had been aware of evidence Biden lied about \u2018knowledge of his son Hunter\u2019s overseas business dealings.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more troubling, however, is that the cozy relationship between Big Tech companies and the Democrat Party goes back even further than 2020. After successfully running the first real \u201conline\u201d campaign in the 2008 election, former President Barack Obama\u2019s 2012 reelection campaign made sure to enhance its ties with Big Tech firms heading into the fall election, with Facebook being the most notable.<\/p>\n<p>As detailed in her bestselling book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.barnesandnoble.com\/w\/rigged-mollie-hemingway\/1139396959\">Rigged: How the Media, Big Tech, and the Democrats Seized Our Elections<\/a>,\u201d Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway notes how \u201c[t]he Obama campaign opened a Silicon Valley field office to tap into all the tech expertise that was rushing to help his campaign\u201d in the lead-up to the 2012 contest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCarol Davidsen, the analytics director for Obama\u2019s campaign, would later admit that the campaign had access to all of Facebook\u2019s data, saying, \u2018[Facebook] allowed us to do things they wouldn\u2019t have allowed someone else to do because they were on our side,&#8217;\u201d Hemingway wrote. \u201cIn 2012, the Obama campaign sucked up all the data on Facebook and was greeted with a chorus of hosannas celebrating tech-savvy electioneering. In 2016, when the Trump campaign did the exact same thing, the media started yelling that the sky was falling.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A so-called \u201cblunder\u201d by social media platform Snap Inc. enabled Democrat-run organizations to gain access to a trove of Republican voter data to \u201chone\u201d their political ads for the upcoming<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":1897946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/09\/snaps-gop-voter-data-abuse-is-just-another-example-of-big-techs-election-interference-on-behalf-of-democrats\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=snaps-gop-voter-data-abuse-is-just-another-example-of-big-techs-election-interference-on-behalf-of-democrats","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}