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National Polling Company Admits It’s Totally Fake — Crows it Was ‘Far Too Easy’ to Get Major Media Outlets to Bite (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 21 hours ago by pelespirit@sh.itjust.works to c/politics@sh.itjust.works
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The New York Times has added an editor’s note to an article featuring a Wedgewood poll that reads: “This page previously included surveys from Wedgewood Polls. On Oct. 20, after being questioned by the polling site FiftyPlusOne, Wedgewood released a statement admitting it had fabricated data for its polls. All of Wedgewood’s polls have been removed from our poll tracking project.”

Earlier this month, MS NOW featured a Wedgewood Poll showing Jocelyn Benson (D) with a 10-point lead over Trump-backed John James (R) in the Michigan gubernatorial race.

In addition to The Times and MS NOW, scores of media outlets and prominent poll aggregators cited Wedgewood polling data, including; Newsweek, Decision Desk HQ, and Mediaite.

https://archive.is/CYJxV

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[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 17 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

"Sparking a conversation" is a funny way of saying "provide an instruction manual to bad actors."

It's like releasing an unpatched security exploit to "Spark a conversation."

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 hours ago

It's not a new idea. There have been a huge uptick of conservative polling outlets providing questionable or garbage polling data.

[–] OneOfManyPerfectCats@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 hours ago

This has the same ring as "don't talk about drugs or sex, and especially don't educate kids about them, it'll give people ideas". No, people will get ideas regardless. What this firm did is try to educate people about a problem.

[–] Ostrakon@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago

It doesn't stop being an exploit just because it's unreported. People need to be aware.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 17 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

https://blog.fiftyplusone.news/p/fiftyplusone-just-caught-a-pollster

On Tuesday, Oct. 20, FiftyPlusOne reached out to Wedgewood Polls, a self-professed polling firm, with a request for comment on an investigation we had conducted into their alleged survey research. They did not respond to our request, but instead posted a public statement on social media admitting that they had been fabricating data. They also reached out directly in social media DMs minutes before publishing their memo with an official comment: “Fuck you,” plus the name of an individual not affiliated with FiftyPlusOne.

[–] mortemtyrannis@lemmy.ml 1 points 54 minutes ago

So the the thing they were saying didn’t occur enough (media and aggregators not checking their sources) did actually happen…

[–] CuriousRefugee@discuss.tchncs.de 37 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Me with my hand in the cookie jar, staring at my mom, who just caught me red-handed: "It was a test! I was just checking whether you would catch me, wow, you did it Mom, congrats!

[–] ech@lemmy.ca 10 points 18 hours ago

Seriously. Without further evidence this was a "test", this announcement is worth little to nothing.

Also, if it was a test, how is the data being included a "failure"? These outlets aggregate a lot of polls precisely to mitigate bad data. It's basically doing with polls what the polls do with people.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 12 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

For passing this test, here, Mom, you get a cookie.

[–] Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca 7 points 18 hours ago

Mom, For being part of a successful challenge of the cookie jars security and sugar allowance system, we should have one cookie each and I will have yours if you don't want one.

[–] Bustedknuckles@lemmy.world 28 points 20 hours ago

That's what I would say if I got caught using fake polls to game kalshi bets

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 12 points 17 hours ago

A fictional group run by a small number of industry veterans. This feels way too slap dash for people putting their integrity on the line. They probably got used because they looked legit.

Also how did their secret polling "experiment" get crowd funded? You'd think advertising that legitimately would have ruined the experiment. Who were the people funding this and what did they think they were funding?

[–] MrEff@lemmy.world 14 points 20 hours ago

While yes, there is the mentality of "that's what I would say if I got caught too!", they should have pre registered and sealed it as a valid experiment or signed some sealed affidavit to be revealed along with this statement. It would have made the impact even more impressive.

[–] churrodestroyer@lemmy.zip 6 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

The only poll that matters is November 3rd

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Early voting is already open in some states.

Get it done.

[–] CedricWhaley@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 hours ago

Dropped my ballot off yesterday.

[–] flandish@lemmy.world 4 points 19 hours ago

i think this is fantastic. i want to know, out of curiosity, how “far” they got by name though. being from the industry, and i bet it’s a small world, a name might bring with it some accidental creds. part of the equation for sure. just curious.

[–] TrackenDaKracken@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Nice try.

I predict absolutely nothing will change.

[–] tea_n_typewriters@lemmy.world 3 points 18 hours ago

You seem legit. Can I publish your prediction?

[–] Linktank@lemmy.today 0 points 16 hours ago

These people should be banished from society.

[–] OwOarchist@pawb.social -1 points 18 hours ago

So ... how do I get paid for coming up with fake poll numbers? This is a scam I'd like to get in on.