Right Wing Influencers and AI Regulations: A Study
If you’re not aware, America’s unholy alliance between U.S. corporations and the right wing grifter economy has an elaborate public messaging and manipulation system that continues to demonstrate its influence and power.
Coordinated Campaign Against the AI Overwatch Act
The latest case in point: K Street policy and lobbying firms appear to have leveraged a bunch of right wing influencers to launch a coordinated social media campaign attacking the AI Overwatch Act, which would tighten restrictions on the export of advanced artificial intelligence chips to foreign adversaries.
The bill was introduced last December and hadn’t really been seeing a ton of traction. As noted by Model Republic, many prominent right wing influencers have been sharing rants against the bill, all using the same language and typos:
Astroturf Campaigns
This sort of “astroturf” campaign is not new. It usually involves some K Street lobbying firm that covertly gets right wing influencers and fake news companies to parrot policies of interest to party ownership or a corporate donor, resulting in a singular, brutal repetitive message that gets shared across both traditional and new media.
Such campaigns have been witnessed during various events, such as:
- TikTok hysteria campaign, where Facebook lobbyists spread scary stories to get a competitor banned.
- The scuttled appointment of media reformer Gigi Sohn to the FCC, with telecom and media giants framing her as an anti-cop extremist.
Media Manipulation and Consumer Protections
This media manipulation is most evident whenever consumer protections that corporate power opposes are proposed. Historical examples include:
- Basic privacy protections
- The net neutrality wars, where essential consumer protections were framed as extremist by right wing influencers and the corporate press.
Speculation Around Funding
Model Republic speculates on which lobbying and policy organization is responsible for the latest campaign. While it’s unclear which tech giant or country is funding this operation, it’s noted that:
- Microsoft claims to support the Overwatch Act, possibly due to its involvement in drafting it.
- China likely opposes the restrictions.
- Most tech companies do not want any regulations governing AI.
Effectiveness of Messaging Campaigns
These messaging campaigns are generally quite effective. A handful of right wing influencers and news outlets can generate an entire media cycle on a limited budget, manipulating the broken and highly consolidated press to undermine or misframe legislative proposals or candidates.
While corporatists and culture war propagandists have mastered modern media, the nation’s good-faith progressive reformers often struggle to navigate a media landscape increasingly tilted against the public interest and informed electorate.
