Bernie has his online army of “bros,” and Trump has his Twitter tirades, but did you know that Hillary Clinton also has an effective weapon in her online arsenal?
A PAC that has reportedly received million dollars in funding is pledging to increase its fight against those who personally attack Clinton and her superdelegates on social media. Correct the Record, as it is known, has created a task force to aid the Democrat primary hopeful’s online supporter base and “push back” against the online harassment being thrown at Clinton.
Having amassed $5 million this campaign season, Correct the Record will be investing $1 million dollars in its online initiative in 2016, reports The Daily Beast. That battle will be fought on the outspoken front lines of popular social networks, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.
Having already addressed 5,000 individuals who have criticized Clinton on Twitter — including rival Sanders’ infamous male supporters, known as ‘Bernie Bros’ — Correct the Record’s ‘Barrier Breakers’ digital task force is now tripling its operation.
The effort is being led by the PAC’s creator and longstanding Hillary and Bill Clinton backer David Brock, alongside former reporters, bloggers, public affairs specialists, Ready for Hillary alumni, and “Hillary super fans.”
“Hillary’s supporters are more enthusiastic than Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters, yet oftentimes are discouraged from engaging online and are “often afraid to voice their thoughts” because of the fear of online harassment,” writes Correct the Record in its press release announcing Breaking Barriers 2016. “Many of Hillary Clinton’s female supporters in particular have been subject to intense cyber-bullying and sexist attacks from swarms of anonymous attackers.”
Up until now, Sanders has dominated the online conversation on the Democrat side of the electorate when it comes to social media and Google search results during debates and caucuses. Correct the Record will be hoping to turn the tide, in particular by targeting those Sanders supporters with information about Clinton that encourages them to switch candidates.
Unfortunately for Clinton and her digital task force, the “genuine” nature of social media is hard to gauge, as evidenced in a recent poll that found both Clinton and Trump have the highest number of fake followers on Twitter. Changing that statistic may end up being the real battle for Correct the Record.
