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Don’t ever tell me “dark money” isn’t a problem in politics. It is, and here’s a perfect example targeting YOU – right here in South Carolina.

How does a no-name “news” outlet afford to pay over $3,200 in Facebook ads DELIBERATELY MISLEADING people about me and every other Congressperson and Senator from South Carolina?

I’m talking about the "Palmetto State News" – which is owned by Metric Media. If you’ve never heard of the Palmetto State News, join the crowd; they've got a whopping 21 followers on Facebook as of this morning.

So back in August, the Palmetto State News published an article which began, “As inflation fears climb and wages decline, U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman refused to comment when contacted by Palmetto State News.”

Really? Refused to comment?!  I have NEVER refused to comment on Biden’s inflation crisis.

There's absolutely no indication they even attempted to contact my communications director (or me directly). They just made it all up! Just to generate a fake-news headline!

Then after publishing that lie, another organization called “Franklin Archer” took out Facebook ads to promote it. According to Facebook transparency data, Franklin Archer paid somewhere between $400 and $499… targeting just me.

Oh, but it gets better…

The Palmetto State News also published the same misleading headline about EVERY OTHER representative and senator from South Carolina. Including Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn, so it's not like this was a partisan attack.

As best we can tell, the Palmetto State News never reached out to anyone from any congressional or senate office. But the article was the same for everyone, just with an updated name and photo.  Each article perpetuating the same lie that we were somehow unresponsive to their inquiries on the subject of inflation. And each article was promoted by Franklin Archer with HUNDREDS of dollars in ads.

In total, Franklin Archer spent somewhere between $3,200 and $4,000 promoting the lies of the Palmetto News.

Which begs several questions: (A) Why? (B) Where did that ad money come from? The Palmetto State News shows ads on their website, but as irrelevant as their site is, their ad revenue would be very small. That means they’re getting money from somewhere. But where? And (C) who was behind this malicious effort?

It’s not easy to figure out how Metric Media, Franklin Archer, or the Palmetto State News are funded. The Columbia Journalism Review just published an extensive investigation on this (see link below) saying Metric Media “promotes political agendas and corporate interests, without disclosing those ties to the public.”

No kidding.

I’ll get to the bottom of this sooner or later. But whether it’s these organizations or countless others, we need to remember that “dark money” is out there, and is actively being spent to manipulate what you see and hear online – even right here in South Carolina.