Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — A political action committee (PAC) funded by billionaire Elon Musk has sparked debate after a wave of ads campaign supporting U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump began circulating on social media, allegedly spreading misleading information to Trump supporters.
According to a CNBC report, these ads, disguised as coming from Democratic sources, target Republican voters with controversial policy messages purportedly linked to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
The ads claim Harris supports a range of policies that are against conservative ideology holds by Republicans, such as mandatory gun buybacks, voting rights for undocumented immigrants, restrictions on parental input in gender-affirming care, and a ban on gasoline-powered vehicles.
However, many of these policies are not part of Harris’s agenda and do not reflect the official platform of the Democratic Party.
The campaign, called “Progress 2028,” is designed to mirrors the Democratic “Project 2025” but with exaggerated, liberal-leaning policies compared to the Democrats. Documents from OpenSecrets, a watchdog group investigating political spending, reveal that the misleading campaign is orchestrated by Building America’s Future, a PAC funded by Musk.
Previously, Building America’s Future was involved in disseminating misinformation targeting Muslim communities in Michigan and Jewish voters in Pennsylvania, as reported by 404 Media.
These advertising messages also reached citizens through text messages. According to the report compiled by 404 media Cited on Wednesday, October 30, republicans in swing states are receiving advertising messages that convey misleading messages if Harris is elected US president.
One frequently cited number, 855-430-480, has reportedly been sending misleading texts to Republican voters in key swing states, particularly Pennsylvania.
Advertising Data from Meta indicates that between October 6 and October 12, 2024, the campaign spent over $36,000 on Facebook ads, with ad spending spiking nearly 1,000% to $328,590 in the following week. By the end of October, ad expenditures had exceeded $520,000.
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Transparency advocate Alex Howard expressed concern over the incident, noting that while TV and radio stations are required to disclose political ad records online, telecommunications companies should face similar obligations to prevent the unchecked spread of misinformation to the public.
“Telecom providers like Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T should start to voluntarily disclose Advertising records to the public regarding the targeted political texts,” Howard said. “Legislators and regulators need to make sure this transparency isn’t optional for tech companies in the future.”
(Raidi/Agung)
