Adriel Hampton

Last updated
Adriel Hampton
Born
Modesto, California
Alma mater University of California, Berkeley
Occupations
  • Entrepreneur
  • political campaign strategist
Political party No party preference

Adriel O. Hampton (born 1978) is an American, and Californian, entrepreneur, strategist, and political activist. He runs The Adriel Hampton Group, a digital advertising agency that supports progressive causes. [1] He is the founder of The Really Online Lefty League political action committee (PAC). [2]

Contents

Earlier in his career, Hampton co-founded the analytics startup Pinpoint Predictive, the podcast Gov 2.0 Radio, and the progressive Facebook community Really American. He was an early member of the organizing software company NationBuilder. [3] In 2009, Hampton became the first person to launch a congressional candidacy via Twitter. [4]

Hampton is known for criticizing Facebook's political advertising policies, arguing that the social media giant doesn't do enough to combat false political advertising on its platform. [5] [6] [7] In 2019, he launched a campaign for the 2022 California gubernatorial election as a progressive candidate, but withdrew before the filing deadline. [8]

Early life and education

Hampton was born in Modesto, California and was homeschooled. He is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. [9] He worked as editor-in-chief of The Impact newspaper at San Joaquin Delta College, and graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Rhetoric. Hampton worked as an editor at the Lodi News-Sentinel , Alameda News Group, the San Francisco Examiner , and as an investigator for the San Francisco City Attorney's Office. [10]

Founding of Government 2.0

Hampton launched Government 2.0 Radio in March 2009 featuring an interview with Web 2.0 pioneer Tim O'Reilly. Hampton gained publicity for use of Twitter and Facebook in a 2009 campaign for the CA-10 seat to replace Rep. Ellen Tauscher in the House of Representatives. [10] [11] [12] Hampton's campaign used collaborative editing, a form of crowdsourcing, to draft an anti-drug war policy statement.

2009 congressional run

On March 18, 2009, Representative Ellen Tauscher (CA-10) was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Hampton announced his candidacy for the subsequent special election to fill the seat, receiving national attention for being the first congressional candidate to announce their campaign launch on Twitter. [13] During the campaign, Hampton prioritized support for single-payer healthcare, auditing the Federal Reserve, increased funding for public education, and capping interest rates. [14] On foreign policy, Hampton stressed his support for removing U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.

During the campaign, Hampton was supported by former chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party Matthew Rothschild [15] and Matt Gonzalez, the former president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. [16]

Hampton was defeated by John Garamendi, the former Lieutenant Governor of California. [17]

Post-campaign work

After his Congressional campaign, Hampton began working as Chief Organizer and Vice President of Business Development at NationBuilder, a Los Angeles tech startup specializing in content management and digital organizing, and which served clients such as California Governor Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. In 2015, Hampton left NationBuilder and founded a consulting firm, The Adriel Hampton Group. Also in 2015, he co-founded and served as President of Pinpoint Predictive, a San Francisco startup pioneering predictive personality advertising. Adriel's consulting firm specializes in digital advertising and community building. [18] Hampton's clients have included phone and email append provider Accurate Append, mobile canvassing app Ecanvasser, and the activist toolset Do Gooder. He is an adviser to VoterCircle.[ citation needed ]

The Really Online Lefty League PAC and opposition to Facebook

The Really Online Lefty League [19] (TROLL) is a political action committee (PAC) formed by Hampton. The rollout of the PAC, created in collaboration with the Institute for Progressive Memetics, included a fake advertisement for the Green New Deal. [20] The PAC gained recognition for launching an advertisement describing conservative Senator Lindsey Graham as being in favor of Green New Deal legislation to highlight the issues stemming from Facebook's political advertising policies. [21] [5]

Public awareness of social media use in politics and disinformation grew in 2019 due to a congressional hearing in which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as to whether Facebook would be taking down ads from politicians that spread false information. [22] Zuckerberg replied that they probably would not.

In 2019, TROLL was noted for putting up digital billboards along the Interstate 15 in Utah as well as in other states with a photo of Zuckerberg and President Donald Trump with the caption "Trump - Zuckerberg 2020" in order to raise awareness to the potential impact of Facebook's advertising policies in assisting Trump's reelection bid. [23] [24]

In 2020, Hampton and TROLL released a YouTube ad against Congressman Ken Calvert [25] in the election for California's 42nd congressional district.

2022 gubernatorial campaign

On October 29, 2019, Hampton announced he was running for governor of California in order to run fake Facebook ads. [26] [27] [28] Stating that "we have some pretty serious issues of corporations now basically running society and I think Facebook is the grossest example of that", Hampton pledged that his gubernatorial campaign would serve to highlight issues stemming from the platform. A spokesperson for Facebook has since responded to his candidacy, stating that "[Hampton] has made clear he registered as a candidate to get around our policies, so his content, including ads, will continue to be eligible for third-party fact-checking." [29]

Despite Facebook's statement, Hampton successfully ran and promoted additional fake ads as a candidate, including one that suggested Sean Hannity was replacing Mike Pence as Donald Trump's running mate, and another where Mitch McConnell appeared to publicly support impeachment of Trump. [30]

In a 2019 editorial, the Los Angeles Times' Jon Healy wrote that Hampton "may be the most interesting gubernatorial candidate in the country at the moment" because of Hampton's targeting of Facebook as a source of political misinformation. [31] Hampton has stated that climate change played a major role in his decision to run for governor, arguing that incumbent Gavin Newsom is tied too closely to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. [32]

Related Research Articles

Negative campaigning is the process of deliberately spreading negative information about someone or something to worsen the public image of the described. A colloquial, and somewhat more derogatory, term for the practice is mudslinging.

<i>The Epoch Times</i> Far-right media company affiliated with the Falun Gong movement

The Epoch Times is a far-right international multi-language newspaper and media company affiliated with the Falun Gong new religious movement. The newspaper, based in New York City, is part of the Epoch Media Group, which also operates New Tang Dynasty (NTD) Television. The Epoch Times has websites in 35 countries but is blocked in mainland China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John H. Cox</span> American attorney, businessman, broadcaster, and political activist

John Herman Cox is an American businessman, housing developer, and political activist, who has run for public office several times, mostly recently for Governor of California as a Republican Party candidate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Facebook</span> Social-networking service owned by Meta Platforms

Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes, its name derives from the face book directories often given to American university students. Membership was initially limited to Harvard students, gradually expanding to other North American universities. Since 2006, Facebook allows everyone to register from 13 years old, except in the case of a handful of nations, where the age limit is 14 years. As of December 2022, Facebook claimed almost 3 billion monthly active users. As of October 2023, Facebook ranked as the third-most-visited website in the world, with 22.56% of its traffic coming from the United States. It was the most downloaded mobile app of the 2010s.

Christopher Joseph LaCivita is an American political consultant, and partner in FP1 Strategies, a national public-affairs and campaign firm. LaCivita is currently a senior advisor to Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

Social media and political communication in the United States refers to how political institutions, politicians, private entities, and the general public use social media platforms to communicate and interact in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Chase</span> American politician from Virginia

Amanda Chase is an American far-right politician and conspiracy theorist. From 2016 to 2024 she was a member of the Virginia Senate for the 11th District, and represented Amelia County, the city of Colonial Heights, and part of Chesterfield County. Chase, self-described as "Trump in heels" was narrowly defeated in the primary of her reelection campaign for a redrawn 12th District in June 2023 and left office in January 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social media in the 2016 United States presidential election</span>

Social media played an important role in shaping the course of events surrounding the 2016 United States presidential election. It facilitated greater voter interaction with the political climate; unlike traditional media, social media gave people the ability to create, comment on, and share content related to the election.

Fake news websites are websites on the Internet that deliberately publish fake news—hoaxes, propaganda, and disinformation purporting to be real news—often using social media to drive web traffic and amplify their effect. Unlike news satire, fake news websites deliberately seek to be perceived as legitimate and taken at face value, often for financial or political gain. Such sites have promoted political falsehoods in India, Germany, Indonesia and the Philippines, Sweden, Mexico, Myanmar, and the United States. Many sites originate in, or are promoted by, Russia, or North Macedonia among others. Some media analysts have seen them as a threat to democracy. In 2016, the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a resolution warning that the Russian government was using "pseudo-news agencies" and Internet trolls as disinformation propaganda to weaken confidence in democratic values.

Fake news websites target United States audiences by using disinformation to create or inflame controversial topics such as the 2016 election. Most fake news websites target readers by impersonating or pretending to be real news organizations, which can lead to legitimate news organizations further spreading their message. Most notable in the media are the many websites that made completely false claims about political candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, as part of a larger campaign to gain viewers and ad revenue or spread disinformation. Additionally, satire websites have received criticism for not properly notifying readers that they are publishing false or satirical content, since many readers have been duped by seemingly legitimate articles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Committee to Defeat the President</span>

The Committee to Defeat the President was first established as the hybrid Stop Hillary PAC in 2013. The PAC changed its name to the Committee to Defend the President in 2017. Ted Harvey, a former Colorado state senator, chairs the committee.

Dark advertising is a type of online advertising visible only to the advert's publisher and the intended target group.

"Project Alamo" was a database of voter information created for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and an associated fundraising and political advertising operation on social media platforms. It was organized by the Giles-Parscale firm in San Antonio, Texas. The campaign paid Giles-Parscale as much as $94 million for fundraising, political advertising, and digital media services, including the creation of Trump's website. A new database of voter information named "Project Alamo" was at the heart of Giles-Parscale's efforts, allowing highly targeted advertising on social media platforms. The advertising campaigns added to the database over time, driving more effective targeting. The scale of the fundraising and political advertising campaigns on social media was massive, with hundreds of thousands of targeted ads being delivered daily. Project Alamo has been credited as an important factor in Trump's 2016 victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Virginia gubernatorial election</span>

The 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2021, to elect the next governor of Virginia. The election was concurrent with other elections for Virginia state offices. Incumbent Democratic Governor Ralph Northam was ineligible to run for re-election, as the Constitution of Virginia prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms. Businessman Glenn Youngkin won the Republican nomination at the party's May 8 convention, which was held in 37 polling locations across the state, and was officially declared the nominee on May 10. The Democratic Party held its primary election on June 8, which former Governor Terry McAuliffe easily won.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 California gubernatorial election</span>

The 2022 California gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of California, with the statewide top-two primary election taking place on June 7, 2022. Incumbent Democratic Party Governor Gavin Newsom was re-elected to a second term after surviving a recall election in 2021, during his first term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Maryland gubernatorial election</span>

The 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the next governor of Maryland. Incumbent governor Larry Hogan was term-limited and could not seek a third consecutive term. This was the first gubernatorial election where both parties nominees for Lieutenant Governor were both women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election</span>

The 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Pennsylvania and lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro defeated State Senator Doug Mastriano by 14.8 percentage points to succeed term-limited incumbent governor Tom Wolf (D). Primaries were held on May 17, 2022. Shapiro won the Democratic nomination after running unopposed and Mastriano won the Republican nomination with 44% of the vote. Mastriano's nomination drew attention due to his far-right political views.

Social media was used extensively in the 2020 United States presidential election. Both incumbent president Donald Trump and Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden's campaigns employed digital-first advertising strategies, prioritizing digital advertising over print advertising in the wake of the pandemic. Trump had previously utilized his Twitter account to reach his voters and make announcements, both during and after the 2016 election. The Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden also made use of social media networks to express his views and opinions on important events such as the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the protests following the murder of George Floyd, and the controversial appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Michigan gubernatorial election</span>

The 2022 Michigan gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Michigan. Incumbent Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer ran for re-election to a second term and faced former political commentator Tudor Dixon in the general election. Whitmer defeated Dixon by a margin of 10.6 percentage points, a wider margin than polls indicated as well as a wider margin than Whitmer's first victory four years prior. According to Ron Brownstein of CNN in 2023, Whitmer won independent voters by double-digit margins, which contributed to Dixon's defeat.

The 2020 Facebook ad boycotts were a group of boycotts that took place during the month of July 2020. Much of the boycotts were organized under the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, launched by the advocacy groups the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Free Press and Sleeping Giants. Over 1,000 companies participated in the boycott.

References

  1. ↑ "The Magazine for People in Politics | Campaigns & Elections". campaignsandelections. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  2. ↑ "California man runs for governor to test Facebook rules on lying". the Guardian. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2022-11-15.
  3. ↑ "Adriel Hampton is Joining NationBuilder". TechPresident. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  4. ↑ "Announcing a Campaign on Twitter". Politico. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  5. 1 2 "A fake Facebook ad that claims Lindsey Graham backs the Green New Deal is actually a test for Zuckerberg". Newsweek. 2019-10-25. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  6. ↑ Fried, Ina (28 October 2019). "Facebook pulls false Green New Deal campaign ad from third-party PAC". Axios. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  7. ↑ Morse, Jack (25 October 2019). "Facebook ad showing Lindsey Graham 'endorse' the Green New Deal is a sign of what's to come". Mashable. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  8. ↑ Chokshi, Niraj (2019-10-30). "This Guy Thought He Beat Facebook's Controversial Political Ads Policy (Published 2019)". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  9. ↑ Cheadle, Forrest (July 2009). "California Chickasaw running for open House seat in San Francisco district". Chickasaw Times. p. 16. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  10. 1 2 Farrow, Ross (2009-06-01). "Former Lodi journalist Adriel Hampton running for Congress". Lodi News-Sentinel. Archived from the original on 9 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  11. ↑ Drapeau, Mark (2009-04-15). "The Social Media Political Campaign". True/Slant. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  12. ↑ Vorderbrueggen, Lisa (2009-03-27). "CD10: The potential candidate rundown". Contra Costa Times. Archived from the original on 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  13. ↑ Kraushaar, Josh (2009-03-23). "Announcing a campaign on Twitter". Politico . Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  14. ↑ "Adriel Hampton For Congress - index". adriel.homestead. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  15. ↑ "What Supporters Are Saying … « Adriel Hampton. Democrat. Congress". 2009-06-18. Archived from the original on 2009-06-18. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  16. ↑ "Gonzalez and Leigh to Host Endorsement Party, Fundraiser for Adriel Hampton". Fog City Journal. 2009-08-26. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  17. ↑ Garofoli, Joe (2009-11-04). "Garamendi beats field for Tauscher's seat". SFGATE. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  18. ↑ Sean, Miller (2015-06-09). "New Firm Focus: Adriel Hampton Group". Campaigns & Elections Magazine. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  19. ↑ "The Really Online Lefty League: The Digital Front Line for Human Equality". The Lefty League. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  20. ↑ "Facebook kept removing his fake ad so now he's running for office". Mashable. 28 October 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  21. ↑ "This Fake Green New Deal Ad Perfectly Illustrates Facebook's Bullshit Political Ad Policy [Updated]". Earther. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  22. ↑ "Ocasio-Cortez Questioned Zuckerberg About Fake Facebook Ads". PBS. 24 October 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  23. ↑ Kauffman, Gretel (2019-11-23). "What's up with the 'Trump-Zuckerberg 2020' billboards on I-15?". Deseret News. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  24. ↑ "Game on: Democrats vow to beat Trump on Facebook after it declines to rein in political ads". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  25. ↑ TROLL. "Ken Calvert CA-42 Liam O'Mara Regina Marston". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-20. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  26. ↑ "Man running for office so he can run false Facebook ads". CNN. October 29, 2019.
  27. ↑ "California man runs for governor to test Facebook rules on lying". The Guardian. 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  28. ↑ "PolitiFact - Candidate for California governor employs fake ads to protest Facebook policy". @politifact. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  29. ↑ O'Sullivan, Donie (2019-10-30). "He's running for governor to run false ads on Facebook. Now Facebook is stopping him". CNN Digital. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
  30. ↑ "Facebook Has Run an Ad Falsely Claiming Sean Hannity Is Trump's New Running Mate for Almost a Week". Fortune. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  31. ↑ "A gubernatorial candidates strategy? Lie on Facebook". LA Times. 29 October 2019. Retrieved October 29, 2019.
  32. ↑ Budryk, Zack (2019-10-29). "San Francisco man launches gubernatorial candidacy to run false ads on Facebook about President Trump". TheHill. Retrieved 2020-12-28.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.