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Big tech controls 99% of Democratic/Left Organizing Software. Here's what we are doing about it. [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-19
Everyone who’s worked on a political campaign on the Democratic side of the isle has suffered through canvassing with MiniVan. But houses not being where they say they are & outdated data are actually the least of the left’s technical problems. Most people don’t know this, but Mobilize and NGP Van/ Votebuilder, the tech behind 90% of Democratic organizations, campaigns, and movements, are owned by private equity. Botnerra/Apax specifically. If this sounds dangerous, it’s because it is.
Long before 2024, Democratic data junkies like myself started warning of “Data Ragnarok”, or the day when inevitably big tech would decide it would be more profitable for Dems to lose an election, and rip the carpet out from under organizers at a critical time in the election. We jumped up and down warning it was coming, but volunteer Democratic leadership that relies on this tech was still trying to figure out how to open a pdf, and campaigns just need what works *now*, they don’t have time to figure out a long term solution.
Unfortunately, Data Ragnarok came and went. The NYT even covered how the central nervous system of the party collapsed in 2024. Years of swing state voter contact data wiped out in an instant, weeks before a major election. Technical support that didn’t respond, because they didn’t have enough staff, and were overwhelmed. That’s the thing- you can raise all the money in the world, but if your way of reaching voter sucks, it’s more expensive to actually find them and get your message to them, and then if your message isn’t great either… well, that’s another article. Our data platforms actively undermined our success as Democrats, and most folks are cool with continuing to use the same platforms: partially because the alternatives are few and far between.
This doesn’t even broach the issue of the fact that the primary system for hosting rallies, protests, and general democratic organizing is owned by a corporation that wouldn’t blink about selling that information to Palantir. All that sweet sweet dissenter data- down to the coordinates of where they have attended actions, in the hands of shareholders who only care about profit. What could possibly go wrong?
These clunky softwares never get better, and always increase the price year after year. Never has that been more apparent to me than this year, when outrage lit up across my facebook wall.
Mobilize: the organizing software that when I started my career cost $25 for a YEAR, would now be charging in addition to their monthly fee, a $1+ charge for EACH signup PER event? Your No Kings rally got 2000 signups? Congrats- here’s a $2000 bill. Most local Dem organizations don’t raise and spend that in a year. People lost their minds, as they should, and to my knowledge while some of those terms have been re-negotiated, what is to stop them from shifting the cost onto the state party, or even just increasing the monthly fee!
The message is clear- big tech is going to do everything they can to squeeze every penny out of Democratic movements. We need tech built by organizers, for organizers, that is constantly improving to meet the needs of the resistance. Tech that won’t pull the carpet out from under the volunteer voices taking the fight to the streets.
We’ve already gotten started. For a couple years we’ve had a Votebuilder/MiniVan alternative in development, and while it’s getting closer, running only on volunteer organizers/developers makes building complex softwares a slow process. However, given the Mobilize fiasco, we cooked up Rally: an organizing software at a fraction of the price, plus no nonsense per signup charge. If you want to try it for free, use code NOKINGS2025FL at checkout to use it for your organization/campaign.
Is there any organizing tech you love that you’d recommend in the comments?
Thanks for reading-
@JacksonofFL
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