were being paid to do so on social media...
A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers
An initiative aimed at boosting Democrats online offers influencers up to $8,000 a month to push the party line.
“Democrats hope that the secretive Chorus Creator Incubator Program, funded by a powerful liberal dark money group called The Sixteen Thirty Fund, might tip the scales. The program kicked off last month, and creators involved were told by Chorus that over 90 influencers were set to take part.” - NiemanLab
In a private group chat in June, dozens of Democratic political influencers discussed whether to take advantage of an enticing opportunity. They were being offered $8,000 per month to take part in a secretive program aimed at bolstering Democratic messaging on the internet.
“Should we send a joint email (with all of our email addresses) … or, are we just going to send things separately and hope they change everything for everyone?” Laurenzo, a nonbinary creator in Columbus, Ohio.
“Reading through this revised Chorus contract like: you win some, you lose some,” a reproductive justice influencer named Pari, who posts under the handle @womeninamerica.
“I don’t feel strongly about pushing tbh, they aren’t going to modify it anymore. Seems like a take it or leave it.” - Aaron Parnas, a Gen Z news influencer who has been called the Gen Z Walter Cronkite.
“I don’t think [Chorus is] out to screw us,” Orlins, a creator who was offered $8,000 per month.
“I believe we are in Stage 5: Acceptance,” - Pari
Influencers included in communication about the program, and in some cases an onboarding session for those receiving payments from The Sixteen Thirty Fund, include
Olivia Julianna, the centrist Gen Z influencer who spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention;
Loren Piretra, a former Playboy executive turned political influencer who hosts a podcast for
Occupy Democrats;
Barrett Adair, a content creator who runs an American Girl Doll–themed pro-DNC meme account;
Suzanne Lambert, who has called herself a “
Regina George liberal;”
Arielle Fodor, an education creator;
Sander Jennings, a former TLC reality star and older brother of trans influencer Jazz Jennings;
David Pakman, who hosts an independent progressive show on YouTube covering news and politics;
Leigh McGowan, who goes by the online moniker “
Politics Girl”; and dozens of others. The influencers are not allowed to disclose their relationship with Chorus or The Sixteen Thirty Fund—or functionally, that they’re being paid at all. It also stated that creators will “
not publicize” their relationship with Chorus or tell others that they’re members of the program or disclos[ing] the identity of any Funder“
without Chorus’s prior express consent.”
Chorus' lawyer, Graham Wilson, stated...
“There are some real great advantages to … housing this program in a nonprofit. It gives us the ability to raise money from donors. It also, with this structure, it avoids a lot of the public disclosure or public disclaimers—you know, ‘Paid for by blah blah blah blah’—that you see on political ads. We don’t need to deal with any of that. Your names aren’t showing up on, like, reports filed with the FEC.” The goal of Chorus is to
“build new infrastructure to fund independent progressive voices online at scale.” The creators who joined the incubator are expected to attend regular advocacy trainings and daily messaging check-ins. Those messaging check-ins are led by Cohen on “rapid response days.” The creators also have to attend at least two Chorus “newsroom” events per month, which are events Chorus plans, often with lawmakers. So... to be trained and act like sheep
Some influencers for Chorus Creator Incubator Program were paid as little as $250 per month, according to one creator who declined to accept the new deal, while others were offered membership into the “amplifier” cohort, which provides up to $8,000 per month.
Other influencers weren't even invited to the new offerings because of what they believe in:
Keith Edwards, a Democratic content creator was not invited to be part of the program because he believes that the way it was structured seemed “predatory.” He says that he would never agree to take part in a program that was run in secret or wouldn’t allow him to disclose funding.
While some creators have been eager to work with Chorus, others distrust the organization. This spring, Chorus faced a wave of backlash from prominent content creators whose images were included in the firm’s fundraising decks without permission.
The faces of several well-known influencers were featured prominently on the Chorus website beneath a giant DONATE button. Progressive YouTuber and former Media Matters staffer Kat Abughazaleh, who’s running for Congress in Illinois.
Several influencers who doggedly defended Chorus throughout that controversy, including Elizabeth Booker Houston, a Democratic comedian and content creator on Instagram, and Allie O’Brien, another progressive creator, were involved in membership talks for the highest-paid tier in Chorus’ new creator incubator program.
Chesko, who goes by @thespeechprof online, applied to join the program because he viewed it as an
“opportunity to get access to people that have funding or backing and actual research that I could use.”
Topic: Lefties/Demmies social media influencers... (Read 690 times)