Oh cool, Meta now lets politicians claim the 2020 election was rigged in their ads
Plus: pull up a chair and pass the ranch, more than 2,600 designs were submitted for the new Minnesota flag
Hello, in this issue we’ll look at…
Oh cool, Meta now lets politicians claim the 2020 election was rigged in their ads
The Chinese spy balloon could be coming to a campaign ad near you
Pull up a chair and pass the ranch: more than 2,600 designs were submitted for the new Minnesota flag
Scroll to the end to see: the Prince shirt I want to get.
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Oh cool, Meta now lets politicians claim the 2020 election was rigged in their ads
Meta once banned ads that claimed voter fraud was widespread or altered the outcome of the election. Now candidates can cry voter fraud all they want as long as it’s not about a current or ongoing election.
Facebook’s parent company made the update to its policy last year, per the Wall Street Journal, which reported the change Wednesday. Already, former President Donald Trump’s campaign has taken advantage. In August, the campaign ran ads of Trump saying falsely in a video message that the 2020 election was “rigged.”
“We won in 2016. We had a rigged election in 2020 but got more votes than any sitting president,” Trump says in the ad, which had at least 400,000 impressions when it ran over the summer. “We’re going to win like never before.”
Trump’s own administration found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, and while he did receive more votes than any sitting president in U.S. history, it was still seven million fewer votes than then-candidate Joe Biden received. Trump has been indicted on federal charges for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Tech Oversight Project, a lobbying group that calls for limiting the power of big tech companies, called Meta’s policy change a decision to profit off election denialism.
“This announcement is a horrible preview of what we can expect in 2024,” Kyle Morse, the group’s deputy executive director said in a statement. “Congress and the Administration need to act now to ensure that Meta, TikTok, Google, X, Rumble, and other social media platforms are not actively aiding and abetting foreign and domestic actors who are openly undermining our democracy and social fabric.”
Other tech companies have backed off from their policies instituted after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol related to false voter fraud claims. In August, X updated its civic integrity policy, which bans voter suppression and intimidation but makes no mention of voter fraud.
Google said in June it would stop removing videos from YouTube that advance false claims about the 2020 U.S. election. Google has not rescinded its policy about voter fraud claims for some elections in other countries, including the 2021 German federal election and the 2014, 2018, and 2022 Brazilian presidential elections, according to the company.
The Chinese spy balloon could be coming to a campaign ad near you
The Chinese spy balloon is flying over Montana once again, now in an ad.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) mentions the balloon in a TV ad about a bipartisan bill he cosponsored to ban America’s foreign adversaries from U.S. farmland ownership. Another version of the ad without the balloon called “Stop China” is running on YouTube showing Tester, the Senate’s only working farmer, on farm equipment over a rock-style track.
“As Chinese corporations threaten to buy American farmland, I’m working with Republicans to stop them,” Tester says in the 14-second preroll ad, sitting in the back of a truck.
Tester is up for reelection next year in what’s expected to be one of the most competitive Senate races, and his campaign has joined a growing number who are going tough on China.
About $44 million has been spent on political ads that mention China so far this campaign, according to data fromAdImpact analyzed by NPR, and it’s mostly from Republicans. Among ads that reference China, Republican candidates or groups make up 90% of the TV spending and 58% of the digital spending.
Expect to hear more about foreign land ownership in the U.S. in the coming campaign. Foreign farmland ownership in the U.S. doubled from 2009 to 2019, per the Department of Agriculture, but lawmakers are pushing back. The National Agricultural Law Center now counts 24 states with laws restricting foreign ownership of land in some way. Politicians from Tester to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have made their efforts to restrict some foreign buyers part of their pitch to voters.
A record 58% of Americans believe China’s development as a world power is a threat to U.S. interests, according to a survey from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a think tank. That’s the highest that figure has been since the group began polling on the question in 1990.
China’s authoritarian President Xi Jinping seemed intent on tempering those attitudes during his trip to California to meet with President Joe Biden and world leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference this week. Said Xi on Wednesday: “Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” which is the exact opposite energy Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien brought to the Senate floor Tuesday. You stand your butt up.
Pull up a chair and pass the ranch: more than 2,600 designs were submitted for the new Minnesota flag
The public submission period to send in designs for Minnesota’s new state flag has closed, and more than 2,600 were submitted, according to the Minnesota State Emblems Redesign Commission.
You’ll notice some recurring themes in the designs. The main colors mentioned in the project’s design brief, green, blue, and white, are the most popular. The most popular symbols are the North Star, trees, wavy lines for rivers, and loons, the state bird. Several used snowflakes or an outline map of the state. One purple map flag spells out Minnesota in Morse Code.
Some are serious and others are silly. Someone literally just submitted the California Bear Flag. One design replaces the current Minnesota flag state seal with an image of a casserole and there were more than one showing a loon shooting lasers from its eyes. A lot of the submissions didn’t follow instructions in the design brief to keep the designs symmetrical or free of lettering, but they’re still fun to look at.
The Minnesota State Emblems Redesign Commission will narrow its options this month down to five and the final design is scheduled to be selected by the New Year’s Day.
You can see all the submissions here.
Have you seen this?
SiriusXM got a new logo. Can it get them new listeners? The music service lags behind such competitors as Spotify and YouTube Music. It’s hoping revamped features and a new visual identity can attract a new generation. [Fast Company, by me]
Kennedy’s super PAC aims to woo voters with 30-minute “infomercial.” American Values 2024 says it’s willing to spend millions of dollars on a 30-minute “infomercial” that will be all about Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and officials said they’re planning to debut the video early next year at red-carpet premieres in New York and Los Angeles. [Politico]
Frills, lace, and lots of purple: an online auction highlights Prince’s evolving pop style. Bidding is now open on clothing and ephemera from the “Purple Rain” tour and film and other peak eras of Prince. [Artnet News]
Left-leaning nonprofits poured $196 million of secret money into political world in 2022. The Sixteen Thirty Fund directed millions of dollars into political causes including protecting abortion rights and keeping the Democratic Senate majority in 2022. [NBC News]
🔒 YELLO subscriber exclusive:
History of political design
Estes Kefauver coonskin cap pin (1952). Kefauver, a Democratic U.S. Senator from Tennessee, wore a coonskin cap as a bit and the symbol was used on pins during his 1952 presidential campaign.
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Now we’ll get Trump, Hillary, and their clowns making ads all over Facebook which only the elderly will see.