What is Shadow Inc? Explaining the Iowa Conspiracy Theories Embraced By Democrats (And Some Cynical Republicans)
Politicos on the left and right have become fixated on one company following the disastrous Iowa Democratic Caucus Monday night.
An app developed by Shadow Inc, a company comprised of “veterans of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign,” per the Los Angeles Times, was used to compile the results of the caucus — which have yet to be released.
Among the Clinton campaign alumni is Shadow Inc CEO and co-founder Gerard Niemira, who worked as director of product and a senior product manager at Hillary For America between October 2015 and November 2016.
According to the LA Times, “Results from Monday’s caucuses could not be transmitted to Iowa party headquarters, and state Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price blamed the problem on a coding error.”
The results reportedly contained “inconsistencies,” which led to conspiracy theories surrounding the error, and particularly one link between Shadow Inc and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s campaign.
The Buttigieg campaign reportedly paid $42,500 to Shadow Inc last year for “software rights and subscriptions.” The presidential campaign for former Vice President Joe Biden also made a payment to the company.
Democratic Party figures and organizations have set to distance themselves from Shadow Inc following the blunder, while Republican Party figures have used the opportunity to take shots at the opposition.
Some Republicans have even claimed that Niemira is married to a member of Buttigieg’s campaign — a claim retweeted by Donald Trump Jr.
Buttigieg uses same vendor, Shadow Inc., that Iowa Dem Party paid to develop their app for caucus results.
Owner of Shadow is married to Buttigieg’s digital director.
Interesting. pic.twitter.com/jCFYZrHYFX
— HARLAN Z. HILL (@Harlan) February 4, 2020
But despite the conspiracy theories, there is no evidence that the Buttigieg campaign had any connection to Shadow Inc’s handling of the caucus results.
As New York Times opinion writer at large Charlie Warzel wrote on Tuesday, “in place of definitive results, an information war has broken out, unleashing reckless speculation, conspiracy theories and deep anxiety.”
“The Democrats’ technology failure created an information vacuum that was quickly seized upon by trolls and political operatives alike to cast doubt on the electoral process and sow division,” he detailed. “By failing to deliver as an anxious nation watched, the Iowa Democratic Party helped transform the caucus into a petri dish for conspiracies. Democrats floated suspicions of their own party; Republicans amplified them and tried out theories of their own; unsubstantiated claims of meddling or hacking rattled around picking up shares, likes and retweets.”
According to Warzel, the problems stem from “a potentially deadly combination of techno-utopianism and laziness.”
“Reports suggest that the app was engineered in just the past two months,” he explained, noting that “the app was not tested at statewide scale or vetted by the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency.”
