For months, Bill McKibben was followed by people with cameras. “To be watched so much” wrote the US climate activist, “is a kind of never-ending nightmare.” His stalkers were after an attack story, any action they could spin as hypocrisy, any words they could twist into a scandal.
The organisation behind the cameras, America Rising, calls itself “every Democrat’s greatest fear”. Its partner company led the smearing of Hillary Clinton in 2016. And it set up shop in the UK in 2017.
That’s when openDemocracy first stumbled upon Super PACs in Europe. And now, during the UK election, we’re spotting scary signs that Britain’s influence industry is picking up the nasty tricks of this shadowy trade.
