Just over a week ago, Donald Trump stood in front of reporters and called them liars. “The press, honestly, is out of control,” he said. “The public doesn’t believe you anymore.” CNN got labeled as “very fake news… story after story is bad.” The BBC was called “another beauty”.
That evening, I did two things. First, I searched for “Trump” on Twitter. My feed was full of people calling him crazy, insane, a raving madman. But that wasn’t the whole picture. Elsewhere, there were tweets shouting “Go Donald!!!!” and “You show ’em!!!” with American flag emojis, thumbs-ups and clips of Trump attacking the “FAKE news MSM liars!”
Trump had spoken loud and clear to his audience. Then I did what I’ve been doing for months now-I typed into Google’s search bar: “mainstream media is…” And the autocomplete offered this: “mainstream media is… dead, dying, fake news, fake, finished”. Is it really dead? Has FAKE news taken over? Are we now the FAKE news? Is mainstream media – us – actually fading away?
I clicked on Google’s top suggestion which led me to CNSnews. com with an article titled: “The Mainstream media are dead.” Turns out they’re “dead” because they – we – “cannot be trusted”. How did this relatively unknown site dominate Google’s search results? Checking their About page revealed CNSnews belongs to the Media Research Center-“America’s media watchdog”-which aims to fight what they call leftwing bias in news and culture.
Digging further showed that most of their funding-over $10 million in ten years-comes from one guy: hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer. If you follow US politics at all, you’ll know his name well. He’s behind Donald Trump financially but also backs lots more causes. He was Trump’s biggest donor by far. Mercer first supported Ted Cruz but after Cruz dropped out of the race he poured $13.5 million into Trump’s campaign.
Mercer earned his fortune as a brilliant but private computer scientist who started at IBM making groundbreaking advances in language processing-a field critical to today’s AI technology-and later became co-CEO at Renaissance Technologies hedge fund that uses algorithms to trade markets.
One fund alone, Medallion-which only manages employees’ money-is the world’s most successful hedge fund generating $55 billion so far. Since 2010 Mercer has donated $45 million exclusively to Republican campaigns plus another $50 million going to rightwing ultra-conservative nonprofits. Like many billionaires he’s using his wealth to shape things according to his own political views.
Donald Trump’s presidential campaigned received $13.5m from Robert Mercer. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images
Robert Mercer almost never talks publicly or with journalists so you have to figure out what he believes by where he puts his money: yachts named Sea Owl; a model train set costing nearly $3 million; funding climate change denial groups like the Heartland Institute; and probably his biggest hobby-the disruption of mainstream media outlets.
He works closely with Steve Bannon too-Trump’s former campaign manager turned chief strategist-and gives millions to groups like Media Research Center aiming to combat liberal bias in media-but there are bigger plans too with Breitbart at their core.
Bannon used about $10 million from Mercer’s cash flow to launch Breitbart News-a rightwing website designed as a conservative version of Huffington Post-it helped build figures like Milo Yiannopoulos’ career and often publishes antisemitic or Islamophobic content leading over 1,000 brands currently boycotting it following activist pressure.
Despite controversy it’s hugely popular ranking 29th among US websites getting 2 billion page views yearly-that beats Huffington Post and even Porn Hub! It dominates politically on Facebook and Twitter too.
Andrew Breitbart founded it before passing away in 2012 but told Bannon they needed to “take back the culture.” They’ve arguably done just that starting in America but quickly spreading abroad-in 2014 Bannon launched Breitbart London just before UK elections saying it was part of an ongoing cultural war ahead of France and Germany launches planned next.
double quotation mark A determined plutocrat and a brilliant media strategist can, and have, found a way to mould journalism to their own ends
I also knew Mercer’s name because he’s linked with Cambridge Analytica-a small data analytics firm rumored he owns about $10 million worth-in fact spun off from British company SCL Group which specializes in election tactics developed over decades including military-style psychological operations (psyops) that aim directly at manipulating emotions through mass propaganda techniques.
Cambridge Analytica worked for both Trump’s team and reportedly Britain’s Leave campaign too-first supporting Cruz then shifting allegiance alongside Mercer toward Trump-with Steve Bannon sitting on its board until recently according some reports.
Last December I wrote about how Google searches were flooded by rightwing sites dominating certain topics; Elon University professor Jonathan Albright explained how trackers from sites like Breitbart help firms such as Cambridge Analytica monitor users online behavior then retarget ads via platforms like Facebook accordingly.
On its website Cambridge Analytica claims it holds psychological profiles built on thousands of data points covering around 220 million US voters-its unique selling point being targeting messages based on deep emotional insights-which Albright calls essentially a “propaganda machine”.
Weeks later Observer got a letter denying any paid work by Cambridge Analytica for Leave. EU insisting it’s purely US-based without involvement in British politics whatsoever.
Which brought me earlier this week into a Pret a Manger near Westminster chatting with Andy Wigmore-the easygoing communications director for Leave. EU-as we looked through photos of Donald Trump on his phone including Nigel Farage’s famous thumbs-up shot inside Trump Tower secured thanks largely due to Wigmore himself organizing Farage’s visit-the first foreign politician welcomed by President-elect Trump.
Wigmore admits Cambridge Analytica helped them understand profiling methods along with harvesting massive amounts data from Facebook user accounts while training Leave. EU staff-one employee Brittany Kaiser even spoke publicly at their launch event shown online via You Tube.
Facebook played central role says Wigmore whose team used AI-based tools extensively explaining how simple ‘likes’ became powerful weapons allowing precise targeted advertising not only directly influencing individuals but also rippling across their social circles continuously learning new patterns forever monitoring engagement rates etcetera..Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist, is an associate of Robert Mercer. Photograph : Evan Vucci/AP
That sounds creepy , I say.
“It is creepy ! It ’ s really creepy ! It ’ s why I ’ m not on Facebook ! I tried it on myself t o see what information i t had o n me an d I w as l ike , ‘ Oh my God !’ What ’ s scary i s tha t my kids h ad pu t things o n Instagram an d i t picked tha t up. It kn ew wher e my kids wen t t o school.”
They hadn ’t “ employed ” Cambridge An alyt ic a , h e said. No mon ey changed hands. “ They wer e happy t o help.”
Why ?
“ Because Nigel i s a good friend o f th e Mercers. An d Robert Merce r introduced them t o us. He sai d , ‘ Here ’s thi s company we think may be useful t o you.’ What they wer e trying t o do i n th e US an d wha t we wer e trying do ha d massiv e paralle ls. We shar ed lot s o f information. Wh y wouldn ’t yo u?” Beh ind Trum p’ s campaig n an d Cambridg e Analystic a , h e sai d , wer e “ th e sam e people. It’ s th e sam e family.”
Ther e wer e alread y lo ts o f question s swirling aroun d Cambridg e Analystic a , an d And y Wigmor e ha s opene d up al l lot mor e. Such as : are yo u supp os ed declare service-s-in-kind as some sor t donation ? Th e Electora l Commissio n sai ds ye s , if i twas mor ethan £ seven thousand five hundred pounds ( £7500 ). And wa s i tt declared ? Th Electoral Commission says no. Does tha tm ea n afor eign billionaire had possibly influence dithe referendum without tha tinfluence bein g apparent ? It’ scertain ly aqu es tion wort h asking.
In last mont hor so articles inthe Swissan duspresshaveasked exactl w hat Cam bridge Analyticaisdoingwith USvotersdata. Inastatementtothe Observer, the Information Commissioner’s Officesaid:”Anybusinesscollectingandusingpersonaldatainthe UKmustdosofairlyandlawfully. Wewillbecontacting Cambridge Analytic aandaskingquestionstofindouthowthecompanyisoperatinginthe UKandwhetherthelawisbeingfollowed.”</preg
C ambridg An alytica said last Friday they arein touchwiththe ICOandare completelycompliantw ith UKand EUdat alaws. It didnotanswerotherquestions Observerputtoitthisweekab outhowitbuiltpsychometricmodel, w hic hoesitsoriginstooriginalresearchcarriedoutbyscientistsat Cambridge University’s Psychometric Centre, researchbasedonapersonalityquizon Facebookthatwentviral. Morethan6millionpeopleendedupdoingitproducinganstunningtreasuretroveofdata.
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These Facebookprofiles-especiallypeople’s“likes”-couldbecorrelatedacrossmillionsofotherstoproduceuncannilyaccurateresults. Michal Kosinski, thecentre’sleadscientistfoundthatwithknowledgeof150likes, theirmodelcouldpredictsomeone’spersonalitybetterthantheirspouse. With300, itunderstoodyoubetterthanyourself.“Computersseeusinamorerobustwaythanweseeourselves,”says Kosinski.
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Buttherearestricteethicalregulationsregardingwhatyoucando witthisdata. Did SCLGrouphaveaccesstotheuniversity’smodelordata, Iask Professor Jonathan Rust, thedirector?“Certainlynotfromus,”hesays.“Wehaveverystrictrulesaroundthis.”
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Ascientist, Aleksandr Kogan, fromenthecentrewascontractedtobuildamodelfor SCL, and sayshecollectedhisowndata. Profe ssor Rustsaysehedoesn’tknowwhere Kogan’sdatacamefrom.“The evidencewascontrary. Ireportedit.”Anindependentadjudicatorwasappointedbytheuniversity.“Butthen Kogansaidhe’dsignedanon-disclosureagreementwith SCLandhecouldn’tcontinue[answeringquestions].”
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Kogandisputesthisandsays SCLsatisfiedtheuniversity’sinquiries. Butperhapsmorethananyone Professor Rustunderstandshowthekindofinformationpeoplefreelygiveuptosocialmediasitescouldbeused.
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Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage is afriendoftheMercers.Photograph:Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images”The dangerofnothavingregulationaroundthesortofdatayoucangetfrom Facebookandesther ise clear. Withthis, a computercanactuallydop sychology, itcanpredictandpotentiallycontrolhumanbehaviour. Itʼswhatt hes cientologiststry todobutmuchmorepowerful. Itʼshowyoubrainwashsomeone. Itʼsincrediblydangerous.”
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"<Itʼsnotoverstatementtosaythatmindscanbechanged.Behaviourcan be predictedand controlled.Ifinditincrediblyscary.Ireallydo.Becausenobodyhasreallyfollowedthroughonthepossibleconsequencesofallthis.Peopledon'tknowit'shappeningtothe m.Theirattitudesarebeingchangedbehindtheirbacks."
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Mercer invested in Cambridge Analytica,the Washington Post reported,"driveninpartbyanassessmentthattherightwaslackingsophisticatedtechnologycapabilities".But inmanyways,itʼswhatCambridgeAnalyticaparentcompanydoesthatraisesevenmorequestions.
Emma Briant,a propaganda specialist attheUniversityofSheffield,wroteaboutSCLGroupinher2015bookPropagandaandCounter-TerrorismStrategiesforGlobalChange.CambridgeAnalyticahasthetechnologicaltoolstoeffectbehaviouralandpsychologicalchange,sheid,butitʼsSCLthatstrategisesit.Itspecialisedattheheighestlevel-forNato,theMoD,theUSstatedepartmentandothers-inchangingthebehaviouroflargegroups.Itmodelsmasspopulationsandthenitchangestheirbeliefs.
SCLwasfoundedbysomeonecalledNigelOakes,whoworkedforSaatchi&SaatchionMargaretThatcherʼsimage,saysBriant,andthecompanyhadbeen"makingmoneyoutofthepo propagandasideofthewaronterrorismoveralongperiodoftime.TherearedifferentarmsofSCLbutitisallaboutreachandtheabilitytoshapethediscourse.Theyaretryingtoamplifyparticularpoliticalnarratives.Andtheyareselectiveinwhotheygofor:theyarenotdoingthisfortheleft."
Intheus-election,CambridgeAnalyticagatheredadatabaseasalmostentireUSvotingpopulation220millionpeople,andWashingtonPostalsoreportedlastweekthatSCLwasboostingstaffingatitsWashingtonofficecompetingforlucranewithTrumpadministrationcontracts."Itseemsignificantthatacompanyinvolvedinengineeringapoliticaloutcomeprofitsfromwhatfollows.Particularlyifit'sthem manipulation,andthenresolution,fear",sayBriant.
Itsdatabase-andwhatmayhappentoitisparticularlyconcerningPaul-OlivierDehaye,aSwissmathematician/datainvestigatorwhohasbeenprobingCA/SCLIyear."Howisittobeused?"hesays."Istobeusedtomaniipulatepeopledomesticpolicies?Orfermentconflictbetweencommunities?It'spotentiallyveryscary.Peoplejustdon'tunderstandpowerofthisdatahowcanbeusedagainstthem."
Twothingsmightbehappeninghereatonce-themassinformationmanipulationandanindividuallevelmanipulation.Bothusecutting-edgescienceonhumanbehaviorenabledbytechnologiesmeanttobringsocietycloser.
AmIlivingananeweraofpropaganda,IaskEmmaBriant?-onehiddenworkinginoverseenwaysmakinguseemotionalsignalstoreactto?"Definitely.Theresurveillanceviatechnologyispervasive,datausageissophisticated,totallycovert.Peopledon'trealizewhatisgoingon."
Publicsentimentspoliticscyclesthroughtimes.Noneedtoconsidertinfo conspiracies,saysBriant,toseechangesinsentiment.Sometoolsbeinguseddirectlyfrommilitary/SCLplaybook.
Socialmediaarenewbattlefieldswheregeopoliticsplaysoutinrealtime.Newagepropaganda.Butwhose?Russiarecentlycreated"informationwarfaretroops".
Sam Woolley,OxfordinternetInstitutecomputationalpropagandalaboratoryhead,saysbotaccountsmadeuponthirdTwittertrafficbeforeEureferendum-programmedtopropagatespecificmessages.AllwereproLeave.BeforeUSElection,botsfavoredTrumpfive-to-one-manyRussian.LastweekbotsactivatedStokebyelection-attackingPaulNuttall-organizedby?
double quotation markYoucantakeatrendingtopiclikefakenews,andweaponizeit-turnitagainstmediathatuncoveredit.
Politicsiswar,”said Steve Bannonlastyear Wall Street Journal. Andthat’slookingtrueindeed.
Andy Wigmoresaysnothingaccidentalabout Trumpsbehavior.”Thatpressconference. Absolutelybrilliant. ICouldseeexactlywhathedid. Feedbackongoingoften. Thats AI. Youmeasureeveryreaction. Everyword. Hehasawordroomtofixkeywords. Weuseditto. Henceimmigration-keywordsconcernpeople. Whenmakingaspeech, youusetrendingkeywords.”
Hevisited Trumpearly Leavecampaignstart.”Theysaidholygrailwas AI.”
Who?
“Jared Kushner Jason Miller.”
When Trumppicked Mercer/Cambridge Analytica, gamenewshiftedagain”It’sallemotions. Mainthing-wecallbio psychosocialprofiling. Takesphysicalmental-lifestyleattributesfigureshowpeoplereactemotionally.”
Bio psycho socialprofiling-iscognitivewarfareoffensive. Manyothers: NATObriefdescribesrecodingmassconsciousnessturnpatriotismintocollaborationism. USdeptwhitepapermentionsmediausetime-sensitiveprofessionalpropagationnarratives. Importancepsyopextractssocialmediadata.”
Anotherexplainspowercognitivecasualty-moralshockdisablingempathyreasoningcriticalthinking. Examplesmaybeimmigration,”fake news,”nowshouted:”FAKE NEWS!!!!”
Tochangethoughtofanation, startbybuildingreplacementmainstreammedia-like Breitbart. Setupproxywebsitesdisplacingoldnewsdefiningconceptslike”liberalmediabias”like CNSnews. Thengivemainstreampaperslikethe”failing New York Times!”storycontent. Thridprong-Mercer/Bannonsmediaempire-Government Accountability Institute(GAI).
BA co-founded GAIwith$2Million Mercermoney. Mercerdaughter Rebekahjoinedboard. Theyfundlonginvestigativejournalism.”Modernnewsroomscan’taffordbiginvestigationteams,”Bannontold Forbes.”Watergate Pentagon Paperswouldn’tgetdonetodaybecausenoonerentsreportersmonths. Wecan. Supportfunction.”
Welcomefuturejournalismplatformcapitalism. Newsorgsmustfindnewfinancialmodels. Butinthegapsbetween, strongplutocrat+smartmediastrategistreshapingjournalismformoney/powerends.
In2015, Bannonexplained GAImethodsto Forbes-hireddatascientistfortrollingdarkweb(searchmaterial Googlecan’tfind). Result-New York Times bestseller Clinton Cash: tale Foreign Gov Businesses Made Bill&Hillary Rich, written GAIpresident Peter Schweizer, laterfilmbyp roducedby Rebekah Mercer/Bannon.
Thisishowyouwieldnarrativeusingfacts. Launchedfrontpage NYT-Hillarycashstory-shiftedagenda, distractedcycles. Classicpsyops-“strategic drowning”othermessages.
Long-termplay. In1990sbefore, Bannonsaidconservativemediafailedagainst Bill Clintonbecause”Theytalkedonlytothemselvesinnechochamber.”
Turnsoutliberalmedianowechochamber. Scattered, separate, arguing, pickedoffliketargetshootgallery. Rightwingsitesdominate You Tube Googleboundmillionslinks. Jonathan Albrightmapshowsclearnonrandom-ledmoney/politicscoordinatedaction.
Istherecentralintelligencebehindthis, Iasked Albright?”Therehasbetobe. Somecoordination. Maparchitectureclearlyshows. Notaccidental. Leadmoney-politics.”
Talkrecentmonthsfocusedon Bannon, but Merkergavemoneyremakingmedialands cape. Bannanounderstandsmedia; Mercerknewbigdata, internetstructure, andalgorithmmechanics.
Robert Mercerignoredrequestcomment. Nick Patterson, Britishcryptographerformer Renaissance Technologiesemployee/MITgeneticist, talkedsightingtalented Mercerat IBM1980saudiospeechrecognitionresearch. See Mathsimilarityfinance-marketsprobabilisticmodelpredictions. Politi csusesameprinciples Likely CAusesprobabilisticmodelspredictvotes Andattemptsinfluencevotes-Pattersonguesses.
Findingedgesquantsdo. Buildquantitativedecisionmodelsautomatebuy/sellstockshuntsmallknowledgegapbigwins. Renaissance Investedin AIearly. Knownasabsoluteblackboxfinancesystem-Bloombergreports.
Indiana Univ Assoc Prof Johan Bollendiscoveredstockmarketmovescanpredictvia Twitter. Heexplainedpublicsentimentmeasurementpossible. Societydrivendemotionshardcollectivemeasure. Nowtextanalysisprogrammesinterpretsentimentwindowintocollectivefeelings.
Hedgefundsandothersinterested. Bollenfeltflashstockmarketdropsuggestalgorithmslarge-scaleusage. Armsraceongoing
Otherswishnotjustmeasuresentimentbutchangepublicmood. Reverseengineerglobalnationalemotions. Modelchange?
Possibleandscarymanystudiesshowrepeatedstatementsmakebelieved. Widespreadbotsattemptweaponisepropaganda.
BOTWARswildside2016elections. Oxford Internet Instituteexperts Phil Howard Sam Woolleyexplainpublicopinionmanipulationmethods. Isthereproofwho?”Nosmokinggun, multipleguns.”
Howardpointssourcehundredspro-Trumpwebsiteclusterslaunchedbulkdomainpurchaseautomationblastmessage. Createillusionconsensus. Trumppopular.
Requiresorganizationmoney?
Yes. Linksbotsworkerscombinedcreatelegitimacycreatingtruth.
Trendingtopicslikefakenewsweaponisedturnedagainstexposers. Fake Newsbecamesuicidebombinfomediasystem-mainstreammedia.
Howardworriedaboutsleeperbots-twittersilentaccountswaitingtriggereventriseoutvoteothervoices. Zombies?
Zombies indeed.
Manytechniquesoriginated Russiaexportedelsewhere. Propagatoolsdevelopauthoritarianregimesenterfreemarketswithoutrules. Firestormcreated.
Everydaylifeonlineischargedorchestrationnationstateideologywarsusingus. Ourfeeds, chats, minds, votesarebait. Botsdrivetrends. Trendsimpactalgorithms. Twitter Google Facebook Manipulateinfo=>Manipulatereality.
Notquitealternativeworldyet, butclose. On Twitter, newtransnationalbattlefrontquotes Marshall Mc Luhan60ssaying World War IIIwillbeguerillainformationwarnomilitary-civildivision. Bythatlogic, we’realreadyinside.
Additional reporting by Paul-Olivier Dehaye
Carole Cadwalladr will host discussion tech disrupting democracy bluedot festival Jodrell Bank Cheshire July Seventh-Ninth
