A mysterious group purporting to be a legitimate political organization is funding the campaigns of long-shot conservative candidates — then vanishing into thin air, according to a new report.
The fake grassroots organization Patriots Run Project has been sending cash to right-wing recruits behind a masquerade of Facebook posts and a mailing address traced back to a UPS store in Washington, Politico reported Friday.
"The website for the Patriots Run Project offers no contact information, and the group did not respond to multiple emails sent to the address listed on its Meta ad library page," the report states. "The phone number listed was disconnected."
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The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a nonprofit disinformation research group, recently debunked the Patriot Run Project's claim to be a small citizen-run group, Politico reports.
Facebook's parent company Meta has removed Patriot Run Project content from the social media site, but one lasting impact remains: Dennis Hayes, the libertarian congressional long shot in Montana whose $1,340 registration fee the group paid.
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"Hayes, however, is still running for office, in a bizarre example of how fake groups online can shape politics in the real world," the report states.
Researchers told Politico Hayes stands as proof of the impact such anonymous groups can have on American elections and how ill-equipped social media companies are to verify content in the political realm.
“The fact that they left it up for a year begs the question of how quickly they would be able to action something that started up and was successful in getting greater engagement closer to the election,” said senior research manager Max Read told Politico.
Hayes told Politico he still plans to challenge incumbent Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), a disgraced former Trump administration official who resigned amid 18 federal misconduct probes.
Zinkes' 2022 congressional victory was a narrow one — he beat his Democrat opponent by four points.
Hayes also slammed Meta for removing Patriots Run Project ads, telling Politico via text message.
“The reason they took it down is because Facebook is a Communist-China owned company," he said. "It threatens the one world order.”