Behavioral profiles and legal worries.
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The Big Story

February 05, 2025 · View in browser

In today’s newsletter: How a gun lobby and Cambridge Analytica used customer data; what we learned reporting on homeless sweeps; and more from our newsroom.

Gun Lobbyists and Cambridge Analytica Weaponized Gun Owners’ Private Details for Political Gain

Documents and interviews reveal how the now-disgraced political firm targeted potential voters by combining its cache of confidential consumer data with information secretly collected from millions of gun buyers, sporting goods shoppers and others.

 

This story builds on our prior reporting on how America’s most iconic gun-makers amassed sensitive personal information on hundreds of thousands of customers and turned it over to political operatives.

 

Electing Trump: In 2016, the gun industry shared data about firearms owners and others with Cambridge Analytica to help elect Donald Trump and keep a Republican majority in the Senate.

Legal Worries: The gun industry and Cambridge tried but failed to get more customer data, records show. One gun seller worried about possible government investigations.

Profiling Gun Owners: Cambridge used the industry’s data to create behavioral profiles of the people who had bought guns and other potential voters and then targeted them with specific ads.

 

“Why is my information in there?” asked Kathy Gavin, one of millions of people whose data was collected by the gun industry. “Why did you need it or want it? Yes, you could use it to pummel me with postcards, but what else are you doing with it?”

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Swept Away

 

How we reported on homeless sweeps

Ruth Talbot sitting at a table with signs, pens and granola bars

News applications developer Ruth Talbot visited Rose Haven, a day shelter and community center in Portland, Oregon, as part of a ProPublica reporting effort on homeless encampment sweeps in 11 cities. Credit: Asia Fields/ProPublica

Homelessness is at a record high, and there are many investigative stories to tell about how people lose their homes and what happens to them when they do. When ProPublica set out to report on sweeps of homeless encampments for our “Swept Away” series, there were plenty of people to talk to — and almost everyone we spoke to who lived outside had been through a sweep. But our reporters ran into practical challenges, ethical questions and more. 

Now we’re sharing what we learned — and a few ideas we didn’t get to — to help other journalists get started on this important beat.

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Get in touch

 

Help our reporting

Jesse Coburn contact details jess.coburn at propublica dot org; signal and whatsapp 9172396642

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will continue our focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Jesse Coburn has already reported on the legislative record of Scott Turner, Trump’s nominee for secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and will be tracking policy changes at both HUD and the Department of Transportation.

Here are some of the issues Coburn and our other reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them.

Read more 
 

More from the newsroom

 

How Trump’s EPA Threatens Efforts to Clean Up Areas Affected Most by Dangerous Air Pollution

Hoping to “Trump Proof” Students’ Civil Rights, Illinois Lawmakers Aim to End Police Ticketing at School

Want to Report on Homelessness? Here’s What Our Sources Taught Us About Engaging Responsibly.

“We Will Fight Back”: Aid Workers Fear Closing a Camp on the Arizona Border Will Endanger Migrants

How Climate Change Could Upend the American Dream

 
 
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