black hat politics
DESCRIPTION
A look at 5 dirty tricks politicians and their campaigns can run online.TRANSCRIPT
WILL CRITCHLOW
Black hat politics
@willcritchlow
All examples are made up unless explicitly linked to real events.
None of the real examples in this presentation have opposing politicians behind them (as far as I know!).
I’ve chosen to demonstrate examples from the perspective of the right attacking the left, but all examples could work in either direction.
@willcritchlow
1.Hidden attacks
@willcritchlow
What it is:Attack ads run on platforms like Facebook that allow demographic targeting and make it possible for your base never to see your attack ads
@willcritchlow
How?
@willcritchlow
Choose demographic targeting to avoid your own supporters
@willcritchlow
Why it worksAttack ads are often designed to reduce opposition turnout rather than make people vote differently. The biggest risk is the negative backlash of “going negative”.
@willcritchlow
In some cases, it’s possible (by avoiding journalists and very political people in the targeting) for the opposition campaign not even to notice the campaign.
@willcritchlow
How campaigns defend against it
Use “honeypot” social media accounts with a variety of personas in order to see a wide range of marketing
Can also be worth social media monitoring to find people discussing ads you never saw
@willcritchlow
2.Reattacks
@willcritchlow
What it is:Retargeted attack ads designed to appear only to opposition supporters and only on their trusted websites
@willcritchlow
How?
@willcritchlow
Step 1: create a site designed to be shared by your opponents
I’m not claiming this particular article (http://dis.tl/IunQJX) is involved in anything like this
@willcritchlow
Step 2: add re-targeting pixel
Visit recorded with a cookie on the user’s
machine
@willcritchlow
Step 3: run attack ads that are seen only by opponents
Your advert goes here, only for the
visitors who saw your linkbait.
@willcritchlow
Why it works
To the target, it looks like their chosen publications are running attack ads against their candidate
@willcritchlow
They can be made to appear everywhere for the target audience
@willcritchlow
At the same time, they’re never seen by your own supporters
@willcritchlow
And they can even be made to look like editorial if you wish
@willcritchlow
News websites have unsold inventory and don’t monitor the ads placed on their site
Print newspaper advertising revenue adjusted for inflation (http://dis.tl/Jb5q2M)
@willcritchlow
How campaigns defend against it
Monitor social media to hear about ads you never saw
Source screenshots, details of platform
Shut down campaigns through the platform and / or host website
@willcritchlow
3.Wiki-
circularity
@willcritchlow
What it is:Getting negative stories to stick on Wikipedia long enough to make it into mainstream press, at which point Wikipedia is updated with the mainstream press reference making it hard to rebut.
See also: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/a-reputation-20-problem
@willcritchlow
Why it works
Journalists often trust Wikipedia but don’t cite it
(because they know they shouldn’t trust it)
Famous example:http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/05/wikipedia-hoax-reveals-limits-of-journalists-research.ars
@willcritchlow
How campaigns defend against itFast responses to defacement of Wikipedia
Obtain rapid corrections from journalists and get them to update their original story so it can’t be used as a Wikipedia reference.
@willcritchlow
4.Rankslurs
@willcritchlow
What it is:Creating websites designed to rank for opposition candidates’ names or policies
@willcritchlow
We know this can be dangerous
Not suggesting Santorum’s issues were caused by an attack by opponents. Image source: http://dis.tl/I2pdO4
@willcritchlow
Why it worksPeople trust GoogleDone cleverly, it’s plausibly deniable
@willcritchlow
How campaigns defend against it
Pre-emptively creating a strong online reputation with a variety of your own sites ranking for the candidate’s name
Close monitoring of the web and search results
Crisis management
@willcritchlow
5. Impersonatio
n
@willcritchlow
What it is:Taking advantage of internet anonymity to impersonate candidates.
@willcritchlow
How?
@willcritchlow
Either:
Express plausible but damaging opinions while impersonating a candidate or staffer.
Bonus points for adding to the conspiracy by deleting public evidence as outcry begins.
@willcritchlow
Or:
Shoot for virality, sacrificing a degree of plausibility.
For example, having a fake twitter account say something damaging and retweet it with strong “duped” genuine accounts.
@willcritchlow
It can even work as an obvious spoof
@willcritchlow
Or as an attack on a staffer
http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/aolf0/anon_posts_pic_of_himself_doing_drugs_at_work_to/
@willcritchlow
Why it worksMore people see the (often viral) fake opinion than the (very not-viral) denial.
@willcritchlow
How campaigns defend against it
Monitoring and rapid rebuttal on official sites or social media
Direct approach to comment-bearing sites and to identity services (e.g. Gravatar)
@willcritchlow
So?
@willcritchlow
Attack ads are nothing newhttp://adage.com/article/campaign-trail/political-ad-ailes-trippi-murphy-snyder-pick/232576/
@willcritchlow
But the web is changing politics
Faster than many realise.
I encourage anyone with an interest in politics or the web to read this story:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/134/boy-wonder.html
This particular article is from 2009, but I think we’ll see even more eye-popping things in the next few years.
@willcritchlow
Will Critchlow
Will co-founded Distilled in 2005.
Although most of his work has been in online marketing, he’s seen plenty of reputation management issues and spent enough time with political operatives to get the inside scoop.
Everything in this presentation is illustrative and none of the ideas here are intended to represent specific campaigns.
Will doesn’t recommend playing dirty political tricks.
Founder – [email protected]
@willcritchlow