A quasi-local news site whose operators sought a news media exception to dodge campaign finance regulators has emerged as a vehicle to promote down-ballot Democratic candidates in districts targeted by a liberal dark-money group.
The weaponization of local news by political influence operations is a practice more commonly associated with conservative groups, such as Metric Media’s “pink slime” network. But this tactic has gained popularity across the political spectrum, polluting local information environments with untrustworthy, sensational, and/or polarizing propaganda that risks undermining faith in legitimate local journalism.
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