A woman after a Bikers for Trump rally. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
"Texting is quietly changing American political campaigns while regulators, politicians, and the voters are scrambling to catch up," Vice News' Alex Thompson reports.
Why it matters: "Largely free of government regulation, texts could be the next pipeline for unaccountable money to flow into American politics, much like social media advertising in 2016."
What's new in 2018: The actual peer-to-peer texting tech allows political campaigns "to text tens of millions of people without asking permission first, a change from past text message advertising campaigns."
Bottom line: Texting “will be the difference between winning and losing a close race in 2018,” Gary Colby, director of digital advertising and fundraising for Trump in 2016 and co-founder of Opn Sesame, told Vice.