Thread by @kegill

A modern “buyer beware” story. Must-include case study for ethical UX writing and designers (and courses).

Of course, it’s T****

nytimes.com/2021/04/03/us/…

The Trump operation refunded $122 million — more than 10% — of what it raised online in 2020.

The illustration is accurate but exaggerates scale (because it stops far below 100%). The narrative justifies the exaggeration

THE SCALE BOGGLES. Trump, RNC and shared accounts “refunded far more money to online donors in the last election cycle than every federal Democratic candidate and committee in the country combined.”

It started with pre-checked boxes for recurring contributions in March. It escalated via a technique the campaign called a “money bomb” - hiding a doubling of the donation.

COMBINED “more than 530,000 refunds worth $64.3 million to online donors.”

ALL opt-out, deliberately designed to be hard to see. Which is too damn easy to do online.

“Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out.”

I thought the direct mail industry was shady. This makes them look like kindergartners.

Related: this 2017 @TEDTalks from @zeynep Tufekci on #AI, #bigdata and #ads

Imagine her Las Vegas ticket example as promo for Trump campaign (in all its manifestations) ask for $ on Facebook

ted.com/talks/zeynep_t…

Aside: I get the RedWin corollary to ActBlue...but look at verb choice (contest/competition versus individual behavior).

Plus, RedWin is a jarring name for a party known for hyping RedScare. It’s like they are rooting for Russia. (Maybe that’s not so dissonant after all.)