Turning Point USA
Turning Point USA (TPUSA), or Turning Point, is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college, and university campuses. It was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery. TPUSA's s ...
Students for Trump
Students for Trump (S4T) is an American group whose mission was to elect President Donald Trump. The group was founded in 2015 by two college students, Ryan Fournier and John Lambert. In July 2019, Charlie Kirk, CEO of Turning Point USA, became ...
, a youth group founded in 2015 at
Campbell University
Campbell University is a private Baptist university in Buies Creek, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (Southern Baptist Convention). Southern Baptist ConventionColleges and Universities sbc.n ...
Ryan Fournier
Ryan Fournier (born December 8, 1995) is an American conservative activist and political commentator best known as the co-founder and acting national chairman of the American youth group Students for Trump.
Early life and education
Fournier was ...
.
History
In May 2019, it was reported that Kirk was "preparing to unveil" Turning Point Action, a 501(c)(4) entity allowed to target Democrats. While the group claims to be a "completely separate organization" from Turning Point USA, ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' noted that both were founded by Kirk and use common marketing and branding styles.
In July 2019, TPA purchased the assets of
Students for Trump
Students for Trump (S4T) is an American group whose mission was to elect President Donald Trump. The group was founded in 2015 by two college students, Ryan Fournier and John Lambert. In July 2019, Charlie Kirk, CEO of Turning Point USA, became ...
, a youth group founded in 2015 at
Campbell University
Campbell University is a private Baptist university in Buies Creek, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (Southern Baptist Convention). Southern Baptist ConventionColleges and Universities sbc.n ...
Ryan Fournier
Ryan Fournier (born December 8, 1995) is an American conservative activist and political commentator best known as the co-founder and acting national chairman of the American youth group Students for Trump.
Early life and education
Fournier was ...
.
2020 presidential elections
In September 2020, ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' reported Turning Point Action had paid young people in Arizona, some of them minors, to post Turning Point content on their social media accounts without disclosing their affiliation with Turning Point, and that Turning Point had given them specific instructions how to make minor alterations to the content to prevent detection that it came from the same source. The posts cast doubt on the integrity of the electoral process, and downplayed the threat from
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
The campaign has been likened to a "
troll farm
A troll farm or troll factory is an institutionalised group of internet trolls that seeks to interfere in political opinions and decision-making.
One study showed that 30 governments worldwide (out of 65 covered by the study) paid keyboard armies ...
", avoiding the
content moderation
On Internet websites that invite users to post comments, content moderation is the process of detecting contributions that are irrelevant, obscene, illegal, harmful, or insulting with regards to useful or informative contributions. The purpose of ...
processes of
social media platform
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social med ...
s. According to an examination by the newspaper and an independent data science specialist, the campaign was highly coordinated and included similar messaging under the instruction of Turning Point to prevent detection. Some of the messages were false and some were partisan. One message posted on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
"claimed coronavirus numbers were intentionally inflated" and that "it’s hard to know what to believe." Another tweet warned to not trust Anthony Fauci. ''The Washington Post'' reported that Twitter responded to their questions by suspending at least 20 accounts for their involvement in "platform manipulation and spam."
On
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
, a comment cast doubts on mail-in ballots because of the potential of mail fraud. An Instagram comment claimed that 28 million ballots went missing in the past four elections, implying voter fraud. In actuality, the missing ballots were neither returned as undeliverable nor returned by voters. Also targeted in the messaging was Joe Biden, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate at the time, along with other Democratic politicians, and news organizations on social media. One message claimed that Biden "is being controlled by behind the scenes individuals who want to take America down the dangerous path towards socialism." Facebook removed a number of accounts during their ongoing investigation. Austin Smith, a field director for Turning Point told ''The Washington Post'': "This is sincere political activism conducted by real people who passionately hold the beliefs they describe online, not an anonymous troll farm in Russia." Jake Hoffman, CEO of a Phoenix-based
digital marketing
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development d ...
firm that joined Turning Point for this project explained that "dozens of young people have been excited to share their beliefs on social media." He also added that participants are "using their own personal profiles and sharing their content that reflects their values and beliefs."
After ''The Washington Post'' reported the campaign, the accounts associated with the campaign were shut down by
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
.
In July 2021, Turning Point Action hosted a "Rally to Save our Elections". One of the speakers was Trump who spoke for almost two hours, repeating debunked allegations of voter fraud.
False claims about COVID-19 vaccines
In 2021, Turning Point Action made false claims about the safety and efficacy of
COVID-19 vaccines
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an est ...
and started a campaign against college campus' requirements for student vaccinations.