Defendant, Censor, Politico, Spy

The improbable but true story of how non-profits operating a private intelligence agency to combat terrorism decided to interfere with campaign infrastructure in a U.S. election.

This piece includes original public interest reporting, following on the previous episode on how the Southern Poverty Law Center became financial infrastructure. If you have previously read Bits about Money's reporting on this subject, note there are two major additions here: 1) direct evidence of interference in campaign infrastructure for a declared candidate in a U.S. election, which was newly developed after our original reporting and 2) responses (and lack thereof) from the non-profits at issue.

–
Full transcript available here: www.complexsystemspodcast.com/defendant-censor-politico-spy/

–
Presenting Sponsors: Mercury, Granola & Meter

Complex Systems is presented by Mercury—radically better banking for founders. Mercury offers the best wire experience anywhere: fast, reliable, and free for domestic U.S. wires, so you can stay focused on growing your business. Apply online in minutes at mercury.com.

If meetings consistently leave you with hazy action items and lost context, Granola handles the transcription so you can actually participate and gives you searchable notes afterward. Try it free at granola.ai/complexsystems with code COMPLEXSYSTEMS

Networking infrastructure has a way of accumulating technical debt faster than almost anything else in IT. Meter handles the full stack (wired, wireless, and cellular) as a single integrated solution: designed, deployed, and managed end-to-end so there's only one vendor to call when something goes wrong. Visit meter.com/complexsystems to book a demo.

–
Links:

• Notes on a non-profit indicted for bank fraud (Bits about Money): https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/nonprofit-indicted-bank-fraud/ 

–

Timestamps:

(00:00) Intro
(02:50) The coordinated pressure campaign, as experienced by industry
(08:13) The coordinated pressure campaign, as narrated by its authors
(08:36) Mid-2017: Color of Change dialogue with PayPal begins
(09:27) August 11, 2017: Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally
(10:58) August 21, 2017: JPMorgan Chase Foundation donates $500k to the SPLC
(11:44) 2018: SPLC organizes Change the Terms, which becomes the coalition's nucleus
(19:07) March 2021: Color of Change describes the meetings on a podcast
(21:42) A brief interlude about causality and communications strategy
(22:58) The coalition targets politicians in nonpartisan fashion
(28:20) Early 2020: The SPLC describes this campaign to Congress
(31:26) June 2020: Widespread protests throughout America; National Guard, Facebook deployed
(35:33) July 29, 2020: Antitrust Committee hearing about market power
(38:05) January 6, 2021: A riot at the Capitol
(42:51) February 25, 2021: The SPLC lobbies Congress to require companies to inform on nonprofits and others to government
(44:49) June 4, 2021: Facebook rescinds newsworthiness exception to multiple policies
(45:22) July 2021: The Change the Terms coalition attempts nonpartisan interdiction of Trump PAC fundraising
(48:16) Later in 2021: Coalition members fundraise in reliance upon this conduct
(50:52) 2022 to present: The Change the Terms coalition evolves posture
(52:10) January 2023: Change the Terms intervenes in its own name against a declared candidate for the presidency
(53:53) A brief parable about maintaining tax-exempt status 
(55:30) We have invited coalition participants to comment
(57:50) We received a statement from the Center for American Progress
(01:02:43) No other member of the coalition offered any comment
(01:03:13) The moral authority of charities is a commons