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For the last six weeks, I've been covering the digital election, in its all horror and, well, more horror
I'm not allowed to tweet about politics tomorrow and after that I probably won't want to, so with apologies for the self-referentiality, here are the things I found:
For the last six weeks, I've been covering the digital election, in its all horror and, well, more horror
I'm not allowed to tweet about politics tomorrow and after that I probably won't want to, so with apologies for the self-referentiality, here are the things I found:
1. The viral WhatsApp messages urging British Hindus to vote against Labour - something that's still going on now
Some v.extreme messages were sent by a member of a local Conservative party. After our report, the Tories launched an investigation
Some v.extreme messages were sent by a member of a local Conservative party. After our report, the Tories launched an investigation
2. A sign of things to come. This Tory ad in Milton Keynes took something Jeremy Corbyn said in 2011 out of context to make it seem as if he “condemned” voters
One local resident told me it was "misleading". @WhoTargetsMe called it voter suppression
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-tories-target-milton-keynes-voters-with-anti-corbyn-ad-11851430
One local resident told me it was "misleading". @WhoTargetsMe called it voter suppression
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-tories-target-milton-keynes-voters-with-anti-corbyn-ad-11851430
3a. Another sign of things to come. Our analysis of leaders’ Facebook pages showed Jo Swinson lagging behind on almost every metric
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-jo-swinson-has-a-facebook-problem-11855013
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-jo-swinson-has-a-facebook-problem-11855013
3b. I did a lot of work in this campaign with my favourite data journalist, @C_AguilarGarcia
Best example of her brilliance: this analysis of the emoji reactions to the leaders’ posts. Five weeks later, Corbyn outperforming for sadness feels even truer
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-jo-swinson-has-a-facebook-problem-11855013
Best example of her brilliance: this analysis of the emoji reactions to the leaders’ posts. Five weeks later, Corbyn outperforming for sadness feels even truer
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-jo-swinson-has-a-facebook-problem-11855013
4. On 12 November, Labour was hit by a cyber attack
Five minutes after it was announced, I broke the news that it was a DDOS attack live on air (video in the link) https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1203248/Labour-Party-news-cyber-attack-election-2019-latest-computer-hack-mobile
Five minutes after it was announced, I broke the news that it was a DDOS attack live on air (video in the link) https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1203248/Labour-Party-news-cyber-attack-election-2019-latest-computer-hack-mobile
5. We all (me included) spend too much time on content and not enough on digital infrastructure
When Labour relaunched its phone canvassing app, Dialogue, I revealed what was new – including gamified “badges” to motivate campaigners
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-labour-launches-new-phone-canvassing-app-with-badges-to-motivate-campaigners-11860363
When Labour relaunched its phone canvassing app, Dialogue, I revealed what was new – including gamified “badges” to motivate campaigners
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-labour-launches-new-phone-canvassing-app-with-badges-to-motivate-campaigners-11860363
6. Another scoop: the Brexit Party was being investigated by the ICO for failing to hand over personal data
Was? Is? I have no idea if it's still going on – why on earth should be allowed to know such things? https://news.sky.com/story/brexit-party-under-investigation-for-failing-to-hand-over-personal-data-11864790
Was? Is? I have no idea if it's still going on – why on earth should be allowed to know such things? https://news.sky.com/story/brexit-party-under-investigation-for-failing-to-hand-over-personal-data-11864790
7. My analysis of the CCHQ / FactCheckUK stunt, inspired by data from one of my many fantastic Sky News colleagues, @LivMoloney
Tl:dr: it probably worked
https://news.sky.com/story/conservatives-fact-check-twitter-stunt-may-have-been-sinister-but-it-was-effective-11865840
Tl:dr: it probably worked
https://news.sky.com/story/conservatives-fact-check-twitter-stunt-may-have-been-sinister-but-it-was-effective-11865840
8. Remember the Tories’ spoof Labour Manifesto site?
With my reporting soulmate @ajmartinsky, I revealed that Google had breached its own rules by running an ad for it without a disclaimer
https://news.sky.com/story/google-breaches-own-rules-with-undisclosed-tory-attack-ad-11866416
With my reporting soulmate @ajmartinsky, I revealed that Google had breached its own rules by running an ad for it without a disclaimer
https://news.sky.com/story/google-breaches-own-rules-with-undisclosed-tory-attack-ad-11866416
9. Two weeks later, Google breached its own rules again
It still hasn’t said how many times this happened, nor what has been done to prevent it happening again
Great to have so much accountability! https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-google-breaks-its-political-advertising-rules-for-second-time-11877850
It still hasn’t said how many times this happened, nor what has been done to prevent it happening again
Great to have so much accountability! https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-google-breaks-its-political-advertising-rules-for-second-time-11877850
10. A story about the data driving the campaigns, with @OpenRightsGroup
Labour ranks every voter in each constituency on key issues, including "austerity"
Conservatives use an algorithm to guess age and gender
Both parties are often waay out https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-labour-and-conservatives-have-your-data-but-its-wrong-11871822
Labour ranks every voter in each constituency on key issues, including "austerity"Conservatives use an algorithm to guess age and genderBoth parties are often waay out https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-labour-and-conservatives-have-your-data-but-its-wrong-11871822
11. I write a column every week about tech and politics.
This was the one I wrote after Labour's broadband announcement - a rare moment when we actually talked about policy https://news.sky.com/story/sky-views-sovereignty-if-its-not-technological-it-wont-count-11860665
This was the one I wrote after Labour's broadband announcement - a rare moment when we actually talked about policy https://news.sky.com/story/sky-views-sovereignty-if-its-not-technological-it-wont-count-11860665
12. One of the weirdest stories of the campaign. A Lib Dem official faked an email to quash a negative story from @opendemocracy
The Lib Dems launched an investigation…. And we still haven’t heard what they found
Three cheers for accountability! https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-lib-dem-official-accused-of-faking-email-to-quash-negative-story-11875470
The Lib Dems launched an investigation…. And we still haven’t heard what they found
Three cheers for accountability! https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-lib-dem-official-accused-of-faking-email-to-quash-negative-story-11875470
13. The discussion around voter fraud is undercovered and extremely grim. With @ISDglobal, I tracked the spread of one narrative: the claims of electoral fraud in the Peterborough by-election
What we found was not pleasant
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-voter-fraud-claims-are-being-weaponised-to-spread-islamophobia-says-think-tank-11877169
What we found was not pleasant
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-voter-fraud-claims-are-being-weaponised-to-spread-islamophobia-says-think-tank-11877169
13. Political parties are using gifs to push their message, led by the SNP, whose Giphy channel has 20m+ views
I was struck by a phrase @rosscolquhoun used when telling me about this: “Cut and paste activism”
To me that describes a lot of this campaign
I was struck by a phrase @rosscolquhoun used when telling me about this: “Cut and paste activism”
To me that describes a lot of this campaign
14. The fake Corbyn tweets that went viral after the London Bridge attack were collectively workshopped on 4Chan in a horribly efficient decentralised disinformation effort
With @AJMartinSky and our invaluable friends at @ISDglobal https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-fake-corbyn-tweets-on-london-bridge-attack-tried-to-sow-doubt-among-voters-11878560
With @AJMartinSky and our invaluable friends at @ISDglobal https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-fake-corbyn-tweets-on-london-bridge-attack-tried-to-sow-doubt-among-voters-11878560
15. A local profile of Canterbury, one of the most fascinating races in the country
My incredible producer @valeriehamill and I went inside the candidates’ social media strategies – including the very slick Tory operation run by @WestminsterDigi
My incredible producer @valeriehamill and I went inside the candidates’ social media strategies – including the very slick Tory operation run by @WestminsterDigi
16. One of the big trends of this election has been the opaque groups running attack ads on Facebook
I looked at one anti-Labour housing policy campaigner – and found the estate agents she was quoting didn’t say the things she said they did
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-woman-accused-after-posting-ads-costing-17-000-on-facebook-attacking-labour-11880162
I looked at one anti-Labour housing policy campaigner – and found the estate agents she was quoting didn’t say the things she said they did
https://news.sky.com/story/general-election-woman-accused-after-posting-ads-costing-17-000-on-facebook-attacking-labour-11880162
17. We had so much planned for the final week. Then the Facebook Ad Library went down
I broke this story, so of course Facebook sent someone to speak to me about it
Of course not! Don’t be silly. Why answer questions when you could give bland statements? https://news.sky.com/story/researchers-fear-catastrophe-as-political-ads-disappear-from-facebook-library-11882988
I broke this story, so of course Facebook sent someone to speak to me about it
Of course not! Don’t be silly. Why answer questions when you could give bland statements? https://news.sky.com/story/researchers-fear-catastrophe-as-political-ads-disappear-from-facebook-library-11882988
No. 18 hasn't happened yet - it's our #ElectionSocial show, where we get to relive this, as if you'd ever want to
Actually I can't wait: do tune in at 9.45 tomorrow on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter or Facebook
8 straight hours of this. What could be better? https://twitter.com/i/status/1204137544813858821
Actually I can't wait: do tune in at 9.45 tomorrow on YouTube, Twitch, Twitter or Facebook
8 straight hours of this. What could be better? https://twitter.com/i/status/1204137544813858821
Finally, before I get turned into a dogs at polling station-shaped pumpkin: some thanks. This has been a huge effort by everyone at Sky News, especially the Under the Radar team: @LivMoloney, @AJMartinSky, @adamparkersky, @C_AguilarGarcia and our bold leader @skybod
Thanks as always to producer extraordinaire @SkyNewsValerie for making everything happen and to @DavidMapstone and @alfie_alford for letting me do what I love. Fingers crossed for another election in February... I'm sure you all feel the same way!
