As if Talarico’s campaign isn’t already having a bad day, a New York Times report released Sunday says dozens of TikTok accounts were paid $4 per 1,000 views to post positive clips about him. The company behind the payments is Frontier Media. Naturally his campaign says it had nothing to do with it. The money Frontier Media used to pay for pro-Talarico social content had to come from somewhere.
These paid “clippers” weren’t a tiny side effort. They accounted for nearly a quarter of the Talarico-related videos the Times looked at in a 24-hour window. The money’s source is still unclear and Frontier Media has no visible FEC filings. The campaign’s denial is noted, but the volume of paid content is not. Follow the money is the obvious course of action. Between today’s blockbuster mental health facility claims and now this NYT article on paid support for Talarico, it’s unthinkable that his campaign survives the week let alone a debate or election.
Organic support is one thing. A network of accounts getting paid by the view to flood the platform with positive clips is another. Voters can tell the difference. The appearance of a spontaneous online army collapses once the payments are documented. That’s what the Times just did.
It should be mentioned that a man in the U.S. just got sentenced to jail for artificially creating consumption of his AI songs on streaming services. There should be similar penalties for artificially creating support for a political candidate, without disclosing it, on social media. The fraud is for profit. In the streaming case financially, in the Talarico case politically and also financially. Both are clearly immoral and should be criminal.
🚨 BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Ohio mental hospital CONFIRMS James Talarico was discharged from the facility earlier this week
The “flu” thing was a BIG FAT LIE
Following reporting by @SaraGonzalesTX and @CarolineWren, a hospital employee told @RheinAmacher and I that Talarico had in fact been a patient at the Lindner Center of Hope near Cincinnati, Ohio, which specializes in around-the-clock mental health treatment.
While I sympathize with those dealing with mental health crises, this man is CLEARLY not suited to become a US Senator representing over 30 MILLION TEXANS.
The job doesn’t get easier after being elected — it only gets MORE stressful.
And Talarico clearly can’t handle it.
I pray he gets the help he needs, but Texans need a real representative they can rely on.
🚨 WOW! Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just OBLITERATED Dr. Fauci for lying about the COVID vaccine, getting a PULMONARY side effect and HIDING IT from us
"He got vaccinated very publicly...then 5 months later, we know from the diary, he had a pulmonary INFARCTION! HE NEVER TOLD ANYBODY." 🤯
"He got treated by the best doctors in America while he told everyone that was NOT an adverse event."
"MILLIONS of people injured. He lied about masks. He lied about social distancing. He lied about transmission. He lied about natural immunity. He lied about the capacity of vaccines to prevent infection."
Fauci must face LEGAL accountability.
Under Dr. Fauci’s NIAID, taxpayer money paid for experiments on beagle puppies that included surgically cutting their vocal cords so they couldn’t bark during testing.
The dogs were force fed experimental drugs for weeks, then killed and dissected.
Other studies intentionally exposed them to disease carrying parasites and insects.
This happened on his watch, with his agency’s funding.
The records exist.
@TeamWilsonSC At least you’re publicly attacking each other instead of relying on dark money to do it for you like what happened when Rom Reddy threatened your place in the runoff.
@GrageDustin Perhaps there were no candidates worthy of his vote. Who cares? SC has been run into the ground by career politicians & is REDDY for change!@reddyforgov