Another FYI --
A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding Democratic Influencers
An initiative aimed at boosting Democrats online offers influencers up to $8,000 a month to push the party line. All they have to do is keep it secret—and agree to restrictions on their content.
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
In their group chat, influencers debated the details.
"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, with over 884,000 TikTok followers, asked the group. Some joked about collective bargaining. "Any Newsies fans here?" Eliza Orlins, a public defender and reality TV star known for her appearances on Survivor, posted in the group. "'We're a union just by sayin' so!'"
The influencers in the chat collectively had at least 13 million followers across social platforms. They represented some of the most well-known voices online posting in support of Democrats, and they're key to wherever the party moves next. But ultimately, the group didn't make much progress.
In other words: The dark money group would not budge on the key point of lying to followers.
The article recounts various progfluencers debating whether or not to accept the King's Gilt. I think the reason for this article is that they knew the scheme was about to be revealed, so people who'd taken the dirty deal went to Taylor Lorenz to show chats where they expressed some minor reservations about taking money to lie to their followers.
It's pre-spin for a story they knew would make them look bad. "But we didn't
want to lie!"
We just did, for the money.