Once Cozy With Silicon Valley, Democrats Grow Wary of Tech Giants<br />“The problems were much broader than we imagined, and it was not just about one tool or platform,” said<br />Mr. Ghosh, who with his co-author, Ben Scott, worked on devising Mrs. Clinton’s tech policy platform.<br />“It’s the profit model underlying the whole digital advertising system.”<br />Mr. Ghosh and Mr. Scott are the latest members of the political party<br />that more eagerly embraced Silicon Valley to sharply criticize the tech industry.<br />The authors suggest a few ways to regulate the advertising technology industry, including requiring more transparency for political advertising, restricting data collection or ad targeting on political issues,<br />and strengthening consumer protection and competition policies.<br />“But I guess we didn’t expect them to hit home quite as hard as it did.”<br />Titled “#DigitalDeceit: Exposing the Internet Technologies of Precision Propaganda,” their report argues<br />that the interests of internet giants in helping advertisers run persuasive campaigns are aligned with those of someone looking to spread misinformation.<br />In the same way digital advertising campaigns spend relatively small sums of money to reach millions of people, any party with<br />an interest in swaying sentiment can gain access to reams of behavioral data on the internet to target specific audiences.<br />Tech policy officials from the Obama administration<br />and from Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, as well as prominent Democrats in Congress, are demanding changes from companies they had long viewed as too important and nimble for regulations.
