Start Making Sense

On August 27, journalist Taylor Lorenz reported for Wired on a dark-money project funded byanonymous Democratic Party donors to shape social media. Her article documented that,"In a private group chat in June, dozens of Democratic political influencers discussed whether totake advantage of an enticing opportunity. They were being offered $8,000 per month to takepart in a secretive program aimed at bolstering Democratic messaging on the internet.But the contract sent to them from Chorus, the nonprofit arm of a liberal influencer marketingplatform, came with some strings. Among other issues, it mandated extensive secrecy aboutdisclosing their payments and had restrictions on what sort of political content the creatorscould produce."I talked to Taylor about her article and the considerable backlash it provoked from the peopleshe wrote about. We also discussed why Republicans have done so well on social media andwhy this latest effort is both morally dubious and ineffective.Advertising Inquiries: https://