AP: “President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign was powered by a cellphone app that allowed staff to monitor the movements of his millions of supporters, and offered intimate access to their social networks. While the campaign may be winding down, the data strategy is very much alive, and the digital details the app collected can be put to multiple other uses – to fundraise for the president’s future political ventures, stoke Trump’s base, or even build an audience for a new media empire. The app lets Trump’s team communicate directly with the 2.8 million people who downloaded it – more than any other app in a U.S. presidential campaign – and if they gave permission, with their entire contact list as well.”
“Once installed, it can track their behavior on the app and in the physical world, push out headlines, fundraise, sell MAGA merchandise and sync with mass texting operations, according to the app’s privacy policy and user interface. Yet the enterprise software company that built a tool to propel Trump’s mass movement is in financial distress and has received key support from the administration and the president’s campaign, according to interviews with former employees, financial filings and court documents.”