Identifying the Identifiers:

Several months ago, I captured hundreds of trackers, scripts, and “ad tech” resources that loaded onto my computer as I visited a group of 110 hyper-partisan, parody, hoax, pseudoscience, and propaganda (ie, “fake news”) sites. These sites form part of what I call the “micro-propaganda machine.”

Since the issue is still at the center of the “election hacking” and voter “micro-targeting” debates, to better understand the role of this weaponized tracking infrastructure in the news ecosystem, I spent some time filling this network out with more complete data. To do this, I collected an extensive list of all the software, companies, and services that these scripts, cookies, APIs, unique identifiers, content customization services, business intelligence services, and ID resources were “calling home” to from my earlier ad tech “scrape” of the same sites.

This time around, using a set of tools including Threatcrowd, Maltego, and Gephi, and along with some advanced spreadsheet and data viz work, I revisited this group, adding the deep layer of ad tech, content customization and targeting technologies, and A/B testing platforms that this “fake news” behavioral tracking infrastructure is meant to “deliver on.”

The data I present here suggests that before we keep pointing fingers at specific countries and tweeting about companies “hacking the election,” as well as to solve the scourge of “fake news,” it might be good to look inward. By this, I mean we should start the quest for transparency in politics with a few firms based in New York City and Silicon Valley.

The Sources

Before the “ad tech is everywhere” and “voter targeting is nothing new” arguments come up, remember: I’m not talking about Slate, Buzzfeed, the National Review, or even #12 top tracker awardee and shell site the Drudge Report, but from a highly coordinated campaign to drive traffic to a list of players such as:

Chicks on the Right: A site without a header (title) on a mobile-unoptimized site front page?