Campaign Lab

Chaired by Zoë Grünewald speakers include Joe Mulhall, Patrick Hurley, Havana Marking and Lord Wajid Khan (Invited)

📍 Camp and Furnace, 67 Greenland St, Liverpool L1 0BY, UK

🕛 12:00 - 13:00

🔗 lu.ma/0pksjkv3

How can progressives use media to fight disinformation & hate?

Announcing our first event at The Campaign Fringe in Liverpool!

Join @89up.org & Tigerlilly Productions as we look at the new documentary UNDERCOVER: Exposing the Far Right and it's lessons for media and campaigners

The Campaign Fringe will be packed with events and stalls from some of the most experienced and exciting campaigners

This is the one event not to miss if you care about how progressives win

📍Camp and Furnace, Liverpool

🕛 Sept 29, 11:00 – 19:00

🔗https://lu.ma/rpu1av03

From AI to memes, media to new media, union lessons for progressives, political tech, organising and spectacle-driven campaigning...

... the Campaign Fringe is where effective campaigners share what works

Alongside the Labour Party Conference, we’re bringing together the most active and inventive campaigners in the UK for The Campaign Fringe

A one-day space for serious strategy, bold ideas, and practical learning - things you can *actually* use on the ground and on the doors🚪

What actually works in campaigning right now? 🧵

With Reform developing new techniques and evolving fast the progressive ecosystem needs to do likewise if it is going to succeed

Campaign Lab Scotland Hack Night · Luma Join us for our monthly Scotland based Campaign Lab Hack Night - a regular session to work on your tech side projects to help the progressive left campaign…

Join us for our upcoming Edinburgh Hack Night.

Meet campaigners and technologists and collaborate on fascinating projects.

Make a difference and get free pizza! 🍕

🕐 19:00 - 22:00

🗺️ 531 Lanark Rd, Juniper Green EH14 5DE

🔗 lu.ma/cydi81fz

Campaign Lab Summer BBQ · Luma Come celebrate summer with the Campaign Lab community at Newspeak House! Whether you're a long-time volunteer, a new face, or just curious about what we do,…

Dont forget to sign up to the Campaign Lab Summer BBQ. 🔥

Celebrate the community and meet awesome new people who are enthusiastic about campaigning and tech.

⏲️ 9th of August 13:00 - 22:00

📍 Newspeak House, E2 7DG, 133 Bethnal Green Road

🔗 lu.ma/uqk24sew

White House Unveils America's AI Action Plan The White House today released “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan”, in accordance with President Trump’s January executive order on Removing

Perhaps the most dangerous part of the strategy is the recommendation to change the mandate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to remove references to DEI and climate change in the name of free speech and American values.

🔗 www.whitehouse.gov/articles/202...

The White House recently unveiled its new AI strategy.

The key elements are slashing regulation, scaling AI infrastructure and promoting international AI exports to allied nations.

On the conversational persuasiveness of GPT-4 - Nature Human Behaviour Salvi et al. find that GPT-4 outperforms humans in debates when given basic sociodemographic data. With personalization, GPT-4 had 81.2% higher odds of post-debate agreement than humans.

In a new study from nature human behaviour AI outmatched humans in 64% of structured debates when given basic demographic details.

This study provides more evidence of the persuasive power of AI which may well be a key feature of future campaigns.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

When Attack Strategies Backfire: How can progressives fight Reform UK on social media · Zoom · Luma Join us on Zoom for the next entry in our academic series. Dr Stephanie Luke analyzes how progressive actors and Reform UK engage with each other through…

Progressives vs Reform UK on social media have fiery conversations.

But are these tough discussions actually helping Reform grow?

Join Dr. Stephanie Luke as she delivers the next lecture in our Academic series.

🔗 lu.ma/ux80dni5

🖥️ Zoom

🕐 28th August 13:00 - 14:00

Meta to halt political advertising in EU from October, blames EU rules Meta Platforms will end political, electoral, social issue advertising on its platform in the European Union in early October because of the legal uncertainties due to EU rules targeting political advertising, the U.S. social media company said on Friday.

Meta is planning to pull political ads across the EU in early October  2025.

They say the EU’s new regulations are too complex and uncertain.

It will be very interesting to follow the effects on campaigning if they follow through.

🔗
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Reclaim the Feed: Meme-Making Against the Alt-Right · Zoom · Luma From TikTok to Facebook and Twitter, the right are using memes to spread their message. It’s time we pushed back. Join Campaign Lab for a practical, no-fluff…

The far-right uses memes as a key tool but there are opportunities for progressives here too.

Join Campaign Lab for a no-fluff crash course in making political memes that actually cut through.

📍 Tuesday 19th August 19:30 - 20:30

🖥️ Zoom

RSVP → lu.ma/8rpumzl4

OpenAI and UK sign deal to use AI in public services The US tech firm behind ChatGPT say it will work with the UK government to 'deliver prosperity for all'.

The UK government has signed an agreement with OpenAI to explore using AI in public services.

There are questions around transparency and data privacy we think public trust will hinge on guardrails, open communication, and meaningful oversight.

🔗
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Can we Predict Voting Intention With Brain Waves? · Luma How do you tell which way undecided voters and “Don’t Know” respondents to polls are leaning? What can electric brain waves tell us about voters’ political…

How do you tell which way undecided voters are leaning?

What can electric brain waves tell us about voters’ political beliefs?

Do they give us clues on which way undecided voters might swing?

🖥️ Join us on Zoom

🕐 13:00 - 14:00 on Friday 25 July

🔗 lu.ma/45f4nn14

Our next academic series event is coming up this friday!

Join Dr. Emmanuel Mahieux as he shares the insights with you of a study he conducted in San Antonio, Texas, in the weeks preceding the 2022 state Governor election.

AI persuasion: half the price?

A new study from Yale calculates that Large Language Models slash campaign persuasion costs by more than 50%.

They also highlight the difficulty of scaling ethically but watch this space as LLM adoption continues.

🔗
arxiv.org/pdf/2505.00036

Campaign Lab Summer Hack Night! · Luma Join us for our bi-weekly Campaign Lab Hack Night - a regular session to work on your tech side projects to help the progressive left campaign more…

Ready to power progressive change with code? Join us at Campaign Lab’s next Summer Hack Night.

🧠✨ Pizza provided so bring your laptop and your skills and show us what you can do!🍕

🗓️ July 28

📍 Newspeak House, London (or join us remotely)

🔗
lu.ma/hs6dbohf

AI and disinformation fuel political tensions in the Philippines Duterte supporters step up digital smear campaigns against opponents, using AI-generated content, after his ICC arrest.

AI deepfakes are the new battleground in the Philippines with Marcos Jr. and Duterte backers using artificial images, videos, and accounts to smear rivals.

A grieving sister even saw her dead brother “speaking” alive in an AI‑generated clip.

🔗
www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/...

'Hyperlocal messaging can help Labour win elections: Here's how' - LabourList Matt Collins argues that hat 'Local' messages beat 'National' messages but 'Hyperlocal' messages beat 'Local' messages.

Check out this brilliant new article on @labourlist.bsky.social by @matt-collins.bsky.social on the power of hyperlocal campaigning and the work of Campaign Lab.

Matt describes how hyperlocal campaigning helped reduce a 31% Conservative majority to just 8%.

🔗
labourlist.org/2025/07/comm...

Digital Rights Review: AI-Driven Violations Go Unchecked in South-East Europe Across south-east Europe last month, BIRN’s digital rights monitors documented how AI is being used for protest surveillance, election manipulation, enabling digital sexual abuse and committing fraud,...

AI is being used to surveil protests, manipulate elections, and silence dissent across Southeast Europe.

An interesting overview of the effects of AI powered campaigning.

🔗
balkaninsight.com/2025/07/07/d...

WHAT HAPPENED IN 2024 | Catalist AN ANALYSIS OF THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Introduction Catalist’s What Happened reports offer a comprehensive voter-file based view of the electorate after every major presidential and midterm ele...

Fresh data drop from Catalist 📊

Their deep-dive on what really happened in 2024 is out and it’s essential reading for campaigners. Turnout was high, but shifts among young voters, men of color & new voters shaped the outcome.

👉 Lessons inside: catalist.us/whathappened...

Campaign Lab Summer BBQ · Luma Come celebrate summer with the Campaign Lab community at Newspeak House! Whether you're a long-time volunteer, a new face, or just curious about what we do,…

Summer’s here and it’s time to connect IRL! ☀️

Join us for a laid-back Summer BBQ at Newspeak House on the 9th of August – perfect for new faces, old friends, and anyone curious about progressive tech‑powered campaign tools.

RSVP: lu.ma/uqk24sew

Understanding Radical Right Voters: Beyond Stereotypes and Simple Narratives - Campaign Lab Confronting the radical right starts with understanding why people vote for them in the first place. Explanations have often relied on economic background, education, and other surface-level factors, ...

New: Campaign Lab blog: unpacking why people vote for the radical right without falling into lazy stereotypes.

🧠 This explainer breaks down 2018 research by Stockemer, Lenz & Mayer, showing it's about more than just economics or identity.

campaignlab.uk/project/unde...

A Pro-Russia Disinformation Campaign Is Using Free AI Tools to Fuel a ‘Content Explosion’ Consumer-grade AI tools have supercharged Russian-aligned disinformation as pictures, videos, QR codes, and fake websites have proliferated.

A warning shot: pro-Russia actors are using free AI tools to run large-scale disinformation campaigns.

This isn’t the future of politics. It’s the present.

We need urgent investment in ethical tech and resilient digital infrastructure.

🔗 www.wired.com/story/pro-ru...

How Social Networks Shape Political Victories: Lessons from Trump's 2016 Campaign - Campaign Lab At the latest event in Campaign Lab’s academic series, we were joined by Dr. John Bryden, a researcher working at the intersection of politics, social science, and machine learning. With a background ...

Trump’s 2016 campaign didn’t just break the rules. It rewrote them.

In our latest academic series talk, John Bryden unpacks the digital mechanics behind this political earthquake.

📖 campaignlab.uk/project/how-social-networks-shape-political-victories-lessons-from-trumps-2016-campaign

Campaign Lab Scotland Hack Night · Luma Join us for our monthly Scotland based Campaign Lab Hack Night - a regular session to work on your tech side projects to help the progressive left campaign…

🚀 Calling all tech-savvy organisers, activists & campaigners in Scotland!

Join us for Campaign Lab’s monthly Hack Night Edinburgh on the 14th of July!

Bring your own project or dive into ongoing ones. Snacks, drinks & remote option via Zoom 🔧 ✨

Sign up: lu.ma/r7ypav9c

Campaign Lab Summer Hack Night! · Luma Join us for our bi-weekly Campaign Lab Hack Night - a regular session to work on your tech side projects to help the progressive left campaign more…

🔧 Join our Campaign Lab Summer Hack Nights - fortnightly sessions to build tech tools that boost progressive campaigns.

Bring a laptop, grab free snacks and pizza🍪 & help make a difference (remote welcome too!).

Next event on the 14th July!

RSVP👇
lu.ma/bcibe1o2

🚨 We just launched: a tool to find tweets about Reform UK - by location.

🧭 See what reformexposed over on X has uncovered in your area: reformexposednearme.uk

Progressive campaigners: want to see what they’re up to near you? Now you can.

Local accountability, one tweet at a time!