Adriel Hampton facts for kids

Adriel O. Hampton, born in 1978, is an American entrepreneur and political strategist. He helps political campaigns and causes use digital advertising. He also started a group called The Really Online Lefty League, which is a political action committee (PAC). A PAC is a group that raises and spends money to support or oppose political candidates.

Earlier in his career, Adriel Hampton helped start several companies. These included Pinpoint Predictive, which uses data to predict things, and Gov 2.0 Radio, a podcast. He also helped create Really American, a Facebook community. In 2009, he made history by being the first person to announce his run for Congress on Twitter. Hampton is well-known for speaking out against Facebook's rules for political ads. He believes Facebook should do more to stop false political ads. In 2019, he ran for governor of California but later decided not to continue his campaign.

Early Life and Education

Adriel Hampton was born in Modesto, California. He was taught at home for his early education. He is also a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, which is a Native American tribe.

He worked as the editor-in-chief for The Impact newspaper. This was while he was studying at San Joaquin Delta College. Later, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. There, he earned a degree in Rhetoric, which is the art of speaking or writing effectively. After college, Hampton worked as an editor for several newspapers. He also worked as an investigator for the City Attorney of San Francisco's Office.

Adriel Hampton's Career

Adriel Hampton has had an interesting career focused on technology and politics. He has used new digital tools to help political campaigns. He also works to make people aware of important issues.

Starting Government 2.0 Radio

In March 2009, Adriel Hampton launched a podcast called Government 2.0 Radio. His first interview was with Tim O'Reilly, who is famous for his work with Web 2.0. Web 2.0 refers to websites and applications that allow users to create and share content.

Hampton became known for using Twitter and Facebook in his 2009 campaign. He was running for a seat in the House of Representatives. His campaign even used a method called crowdsourcing. This is where many people work together to create something. They used it to write a policy statement about drug laws.

Running for Congress in 2009

In 2009, a representative named Ellen Tauscher left her seat in Congress. Adriel Hampton decided to run in the special election to fill her spot. He gained national attention because he announced his campaign on Twitter. This was the first time a congressional candidate had done that.

During his campaign, Hampton focused on several key ideas. He supported healthcare for everyone and wanted to check the Federal Reserve. He also wanted more money for public schools and limits on interest rates. For foreign policy, he wanted U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan and Iraq. Hampton received support from some important political figures. He was eventually defeated by John Garamendi.

Work After His Campaign

After his run for Congress, Hampton worked at NationBuilder. This company helps political campaigns and organizations manage their online presence. He was a Chief Organizer and Vice President there. In 2015, Hampton left NationBuilder and started his own consulting firm. It is called The Adriel Hampton Group.

In the same year, he also helped start Pinpoint Predictive. This company uses data to predict people's personalities for advertising. Adriel's consulting firm helps clients with digital advertising and building online communities. He has advised various organizations and tools that help activists.

The Really Online Lefty League and Facebook

The Really Online Lefty League (TROLL) is a political action committee (PAC) that Adriel Hampton created. This PAC became known for using unusual advertisements. For example, they created a fake ad for the Green New Deal. They also made an ad that suggested Senator Lindsey Graham supported the Green New Deal. This was done to show problems with Facebook's rules for political advertising.

In 2019, people became more aware of how social media is used in politics. This was especially true regarding false information. During a congressional hearing, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg if Facebook would remove ads from politicians that spread false information. Zuckerberg said they probably would not.

In 2019, TROLL put up digital billboards in several states. These billboards showed a picture of Mark Zuckerberg and President Donald Trump. The caption said "Trump - Zuckerberg 2020." This was to highlight how Facebook's ad policies might affect elections. In 2020, Hampton and TROLL also released a YouTube ad against Congressman Ken Calvert.

Running for Governor in 2022

On October 29, 2019, Adriel Hampton announced he was running for governor of California. He stated that his main reason for running was to create fake Facebook ads. He wanted to show how corporations, especially Facebook, have too much power in society. Hampton hoped his campaign would highlight the issues with Facebook's platform.

A spokesperson for Facebook responded to his candidacy. They said that Hampton had clearly registered as a candidate to get around their rules. They stated his content, including ads, would still be checked by fact-checkers. Despite Facebook's statement, Hampton successfully ran more fake ads as a candidate. One ad suggested Sean Hannity was replacing Mike Pence as Donald Trump's running mate. Another made it seem like Mitch McConnell supported impeaching Trump.

In 2019, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, Jon Healy, called Hampton "the most interesting gubernatorial candidate." This was because Hampton was directly challenging Facebook over political misinformation. Hampton also said that climate change was a big reason he decided to run for governor. He believed the current governor, Gavin Newsom, was too close to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.