Kamala Harris: Internet campaign incites Muslims and Jews against her

Anyone who closely followed the 2016 US election campaign between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will probably be familiar with “Cambridge Analytica”. The now insolvent data analysis company illegally collected and analyzed millions of Facebook data in the run-up to the presidential election. She is also said to have misused the data to help Donald Trump win.

The strategy behind it is called microtargeting. Based on collected data, personality profiles that are as specific as possible are first defined. In the next step, users then receive individual messages that are tailored to them and their life circumstances. In the case of elections, the goal is to convince people, some of whom are still undecided, of a political agenda.

Microtargeting will also be used in the 2024 US election. A so-called Political Action Committee (PAC), which is supported with donations by Trump fan Elon Musk, is currently spreading online campaigns that are directed against Kamala Harris. The starting point is the Gaza war.

Digital hate speech against Kamala Harris

The campaign deliberately works with contradictory content: on the one hand, it accuses Kamala Harris of being too Israel-friendly, and on the other hand, the Democrat is too Palestinian-friendly. The perfidious thing: Muslims in Michigan see videos with the first message on social media, while Jews in Pennsylvania see spots with the second message. Neither of them knows that the other group will see completely different statements. This is the core of microtargeting.

The speaker in one of the videos describes Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas “Doug” Emhoff as “America’s pro-Israel power couple.” The campaign also clearly targets his Jewish faith. Emhoff could become the first Jewish presidential spouse. Together, Harris and her husband would support Israel. It is also said that the country is waging a “noble fight against the radical terrorists in Gaza.”

Content that is inevitably intended for Jewish recipients, however, strikes a different tone. “Jewish communities across America are asking themselves: Why did Kamala Harris support denying Israel the weapons needed to defeat the Hamas terrorists who massacred thousands?” a woman’s voice says in another clip . “And why did Harris show sympathy for college protesters who are fanatically anti-Semitic?”

Postal codes of the target groups identified

Last week, “” reported on the campaign and described it as the “most cynical” strategy of the 2024 US election campaign. The portal “” then examined data from Snapchat users who were confronted with the advertising. As co-founder Joseph Cox announced on X, he and his team were able to identify the exact zip codes of the target people. There are even mosques in the areas where the affected Muslims live.

“MSNBC” host Chris Hayes also took up the topic on his show “All In” and had the various videos played one after the other. “We were just told that Kamala Harris was on the side of Israel. Now we are being told that she stands with Palestine against Israel,” the 45-year-old said afterwards. “You see the problem here, right? These two ads can’t both be true.”

The goal of the campaign is obvious: to defame Kamala Harris and convince Muslim and Jewish voters of Donald Trump. This involves knowingly spreading lies and taking Harris’ statements out of context.

Microtargeting is particularly crucial in swing states

The current online campaign does not reach the scale of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, but it uses similar practices. It is an example of how manipulative messages can be placed specifically at crucial points.

At first glance, it does not seem as if the target groups are significant in percentage terms compared to the total population of the USA. However, in competitive swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, influencing their vote could be decisive in the election. All of this is done without causing a big stir. Subtle but effective.

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