It Wasn't Just The Russians That Made Trump Win

It has been heavily theorized that Russia played a large role in pushing President Donald Trump to victory in the 2016 elections. President Trump has been under fire for revealing highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister.

Let’s face it: why the Russians would be motivated to see Trump in office has been speculated on by many, but only recently has it come to light just how Russia may have put Trump into office.

A private source from Trump’s campaign has leaked an invoice from Oak Park Alliance, a high-profile marketing agency specializing in digital marketing. Among the largest charges on the invoice is a $30,000 charge for “30 front-page posts -- /r/the_donald.” Among Reddit users, “the_donald” is a well-known community that focused on championing Donald Trump throughout the campaign season. Also included on the invoice are several services, such as downvotes on subreddits supporting democratic presidential candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, publications of high-profile articles, content creation, and one listed as “damage control.”

Oak Park Alliance’s site touts itself as a group of behavioral psychologists and computer scientists offering marketing services for state and local governments, large corporations, financial institutions, and personal branding. When contacted, they stated quite openly that they are able to manipulate any online platform by controlling public conversations by posing as multiple personas, bringing customized content to the front page of large news and social media sites, and even doing what they call “damage control” by manipulating and minimizing negative press that emerge in association with their clients.

According to Oak Park Alliance, “the ultimate goal is not only to create a conversation about whatever you want us to promote, but shift the tone of online conversations in favorable directions. Most users are content consumers, not creators. We use our specialized staff and tools to foster positivity and reduce any negativity that may emerge in association with your product or brand. We create positive comments and move them to the front of the conversation, while pushing any negativity to the bottom to minimize its visibility and influence.” However, the company made no responses when asked about the invoice issued to Trump’s campaign team.

This sort of activity is not entirely new and not always well-hidden. The US Military apparently has been using services that allow them to secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas. Manipulation of consumer thoughts, reactions, and preferences long has been a cornerstone of print and TV product marketing, but the anonymity of the online market brings with it new methods of consumer manipulation. To politicians, voters are consumers, and elections then can be influenced simply by dropping cash to organizations like Oak Park Alliance. The question is, what can anybody do to stop them?

Despite attempts by companies such as Reddit, who’ve poured exorbitant resources into to halting this kind of fraudulent activity, it seems the social media black market continues to flourish. And Reddit is far from the only social media platform to have been manipulated by media marketing firms: Instagram, Facebook, and even Snapchat have seen an increase in fraudulent activity. Reddit even has rewritten their voting algorithm to thwart people from cheating the system, but, so far, it seems, to no avail.