Deceptive TV ad funded by Dem megadonor Reid Hoffman linked to fake news group.

The 2020 election cycle saw one of the most controversial campaign ads, and it turns out that the group behind it was funded by liberal billionaire Reid Hoffman. According to tax forms, Hoffman donated $500,000 to Piedmont Rising, the organization responsible for the deceptive TV ads against Senator Thom Tillis (R., N.C.).

“Breaking news” reports on Tillis’s stance on Medicare were designed to look like legitimate news broadcasts, but Tillis’s campaign and a local news station called the ad “deceptive.”

Hoffman, one of the Democratic Party’s largest donors, has a history of funding initiatives accused of political chicanery. In 2017, he contributed $100,000 to American Engagement Technologies, a tech firm that created fake social media personas during the 2017 Alabama special election to dissuade conservatives from voting. Hoffman apologized for backing the company but denied knowledge of the tech firm’s tactics.

Piedmont Rising’s Deceptive Tactics

In addition to the controversial TV ads, Piedmont Rising launched the North Carolina Examiner, a website designed to look like a legitimate local news outlet. The organization spent $118,000 on Facebook ads that portrayed the North Carolina Examiner as a news website, according to OpenSecrets. Piedmont Rising was criticized during the North Carolina Senate race in 2020 for airing campaign ads against Tillis that were designed to look like legitimate news broadcasts.

• North Carolina news station WRAL called the ad “deceptive.”
• A Piedmont advisory board member resigned his position after the ad and said he was “not comfortable with that kind of tactic.”

Piedmont Rising and Hoffman’s companies did not respond to requests for comment.

Hoffman’s Funding of Liberal Advocacy Groups

Hoffman gave $2 million to Integrity First for America, a liberal advocacy group that contributed $620,000 to the legal defense fund for Fusion GPS, the research firm behind the discredited Steele dossier accusing Donald Trump of conspiring with Russia to influence the 2016 election. He also funded columnist E. Jean Carroll’s rape lawsuit against Donald Trump, according to court filings from the case this year.

Hoffman, through American Future Republic, contributed $7 million in 2020 to the firm of Carroll’s lawyer, according to tax filings.

Hoffman was the sole backer in 2018 of the Republican Women for Progress PAC, a misnomer of sorts given Hoffman’s exclusive support for Democrats.

Similar Tactics to Acronym

Piedmont Rising’s tactics mirrored those of Acronym, a liberal dark money group that operates a network of sham local news websites that peddle pro-Democrat propaganda. Hoffman was an early backer of Acronym.

Hoffman’s Grants to Liberal Groups

America Future Republic’s tax filings show Hoffman gave $21 million in grants to liberal groups in 2020. He donated $150,000 to Grab Your Wallet, a social media upstart that organized boycotts against companies and sports teams with supposed links to the Trump family.