Did you vote for Hillary, and now you’re sad? There’s a new media platform just for you. Verrit takes pro-Hillary news bites and puts them in bold type on gray rectangles designed for social sharing. Each of the rectangles is called a Verrit.
Every Verrit contains an authentication code, which can be entered back on the Verrit site to prove the tidbit’s veracity. (Get it?)
Truth, however, seems to be a relative concept at Verrit. One card’s title reads “The Republican Party is Harmful to America’s Children.” The card itself features a quote from Sen. Diane Feinstein – no statistics, just opinion. Another Verrit title boasts, “Hillary Democrats are the Heart and Conscience of America.” So much for verifiable veracity. An opinion statement with a serial number is still an opinion statement, and not a fact.
This new site is not for everyone, nor is it trying to be. Verrit bills itself as “media for the 65.8 million,” referencing the 65.8 million Americans who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. Is this massive chunk of the electorate really lacking media representation? Most mainstream outlets wanted Hillary to win. 57 newspapers endorsed her; two endorsed Donald Trump.
The new content platform is the brainchild of Peter Daou, a former top Clinton aide who gained notoriety as a lefty blogger. His blog, The Daou Report, made him famous, and Clinton made him her 2008 campaign’s Internet Director. It’s easy to doubt the relevance of a site dedicated to a candidate who is no longer running for office. Daou’s site reads like an effort to rehash the 2016 election, except this time the only allowable facts are statements that flatter Hillary. He wants to replay the game, on “easy mode” this time, and he wants you to help by sharing Verrits on your social media accounts.
At worst, the site looks like it’s playing Hillary’s blame game. Some Verrits pin Hillary’s loss on Bernie’s primary voters who didn’t turn out to vote for Hillary last November.
Politico ran an article entitled, “This Pro-Hillary Website Looks Like North Korean Agitprop.” Not quite a ringing endorsement.
The star of this digital show, Mrs. Clinton herself, endorsed the platform on Twitter: “I’m excited to sign up for Verrit, a media platform for the 65.8 million! Will you join me and sign up too?”
Following her endorsement, the site suffered a brief cyberattack but soon was restored to full functionality.
This meme generator for liberals will add fuel to #TheResistance’s social media fires. Verrit is designed to tell Hillary Democrats that their opinions are objective facts. This only perpetuates the “media bubble” that keeps liberals in a different media universe from the rest of the world. It frames opinion as objective fact, adding to the rise of fake news. And while there’s no dispute that Verrit is here, no one seems quite sure why it is necessary.
