The debate over<\/span> Flock cameras in Knoxville, Tennessee, had reached a fever pitch this July when a stay-at-home mom received a text message from a nonprofit group she had never heard of.<\/p>\n The group, Neighbors for Strong Communities, asked Ashley Smith to speak out in support of Flock\u2019s controversial license-plate readers. The nonprofit even offered to use artificial intelligence to help her draft an email to public officials.<\/p>\n There was only one catch: Smith, a mother of four, said she noticed that she would only be supplied with text if she indicated she supported the Flock cameras.<\/p>\n Instead of offering support, Smith dashed off her own email \u2014 an outraged missive to her elected officials and a local blog outlining what she saw as an insidious PR campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the interests beyond this surveillance technology will work this hard to deceive you to win a vote, what will they do with the database of our every movement?\u201d she said. \u201cA company that manipulates and manufactures fake neighbors is not a company that will honor our data policies, audit logs, or the privacy of the people of Knox County.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA company that manipulates and manufactures fake neighbors is not a company that will honor our data policies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The text message to Smith revealed little about the Flock campaign\u2019s origins.<\/p>\n As it turns out, the campaign was the product of a \u201cpartnership\u201d between Flock and a newly created nonprofit that has used similar tactics<\/a> in support of the controversial proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. Opponents of the merger derided the nonprofit\u2019s work there as corporate \u201castroturf\u201d \u2014 the practice of drumming up fake grassroots support<\/a>.<\/p>\n The combination of texts and AI-generated messages fell short of swaying public officials in Knoxville. Last month, the county commission became the latest municipal body to vote to cancel the Flock contract<\/a>.<\/p>\n In both the Paramount and Flock cases, however, Neighbors for Strong Communities\u2019s work has raised questions about what counts as truly grassroots organizing.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the concerns of the people with the Flock cameras is: Can we trust you?\u201d Smith told The Intercept. \u201cAnd this sort of manipulation of people\u2019s desires already shows that they are secretive, and they are not willing to share the honest information.\u201d<\/p>\n Flock and Neighbors for Strong Communities did not respond to requests for comment. On its website, the nonprofit said<\/a> it had a lead role in the pro-Flock campaign. \u201cFlock Safety brought experience with public safety technology. Neighbors independently designed and managed the resident-engagement campaign, helping Knox County residents share their experiences directly with local decision-makers,\u201d the organization said.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, there are no neighbors and there are no communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n There are, however, no signs of a genuine upswell in grassroots support for Flock, said Craig Aaron, the co-CEO of Free Press, a nonprofit advocacy organization that is critical of both the Paramount merger and Flock.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is very much an astroturf project. I mean, there are no neighbors and there are no communities,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat makes it astroturf is the fake grassroots nature of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re talking about literally one of the most unpopular technologies,\u201d Aaron added, \u201cthat has people taking chainsaws to light poles because they don\u2019t like being spied on.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Neighbors for Strong Communities\u2019s text messages can look like they come from nearby.<\/p>\n The text Smith received about Flock cameras came from a Knoxville area code. In California, residents received text messages about the Paramount merger from a Los Angeles area code.<\/p>\n In both cases, residents were presented with a series of questions whose answers would, in at least some cases, be used by Neighbors for Strong Communities to draft AI-generated emails to public officials.<\/p>\n Despite the area codes it sent texts from, Neighbors for Strong Communities was incorporated in Washington, D.C., in June.<\/p>\n Although the group does not list a board or staff members on its website\u2019s \u201cAbout\u201d page<\/a>, its incorporation papers show that its directors include several political consultants, including at least one former registered lobbyist.<\/p>\n At least two directors at Neighbors for Strong Communities also helped found Influent, a company that uses AI to generate letters to elected officials. Text messages to Knoxville residents linked to a URL with the word \u201cinfluent\u201d in the address<\/a>. Whether Influent has a business relationship with Flock is unknown. (Influent did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n The page on Neighbors for Strong Communities\u2019s website dedicated to Knox County features an image of a man with six fingers<\/a> \u2014 a rare condition that is also<\/a> a hallmark<\/a> of AI-generated imagery<\/a>. The page says Flock\u2019s supporters are \u201creal people.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith said she was confused to receive the text message from Neighbors for Strong Communities, which she had never heard of despite her long involvement in local politics. In its message to her, the group seemed to play up a local connection.<\/p>\n \u201cKnox County Neighbors for Strong Communities is asking local residents to speak up in support of responsible license plate readers with strong privacy protections before the vote on Monday,\u201d the text message said. \u201cAnswer 2 quick questions and we\u2019ll help you generate a personalized message urging local leaders to support this practical public safety tool.\u201d<\/p>\n She filled out the form from Neighbors for Strong Communities twice, at first indicating her opposition to license-plate reader cameras, she said. Only on the second attempt, when she pretended that she supported the cameras, was she given the draft of an email to her county commissioners. The draft did not indicate the use of AI or its connection to the nonprofit group.<\/p>\n \u201cAnswer 2 quick questions and we\u2019ll help you generate a personalized message urging local leaders to support this practical public safety tool.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n The experience disturbed Smith, who felt certain that she would have heard of a grassroots group in Knoxville given her years of organizing in local conservative politics.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is so shady,\u201d Smith remembered telling herself. \u201cIf you\u2019re in opposition, they don\u2019t let you send that to your commissioners. But if you\u2019re in support, they\u2019re sending that to all of the commissioners.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith started digging \u2014 and she used artificial intelligence to help. Her searches turned up Neighbors for Strong Communities\u2019s incorporation paperwork in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n Knox shared her findings with her county commissioner Andy Fox and a popular Facebook page for local politics. She noted that the address the nonprofit provided was shared with an Italian restaurant in D.C. (The group has since updated its address, which it shares with a UPS store in Santa Monica, California.) When the Facebook page shared her findings, at least nine residents posted comments saying they had received text messages, too.<\/p>\n Neighbors for Strong Communities\u2019s intervention came at a perilous moment for Flock.<\/p>\n The company had already reaped more than $2 million<\/a> from the Knox County Sheriff\u2019s Office, but county commissioners said they had never been asked to approve a contract.<\/p>\n Residents on the right and left were raising concerns about privacy protections and the camera network\u2019s history of being used by rogue law enforcement officers to stalk<\/a> former romantic partners.<\/p>\n The nonprofit\u2019s outreach effort appears to have generated a flurry of emails to commissioners arguing that the cameras were needed to prevent crime. Former at-large Commissioner Larsen Jay shared eight emails that he received from constituents supporting the use of license-plate readers.<\/p>\n None of those emails were identical, but their language was similar enough to raise red flags for Jay, whose service on the commission wrapped up at the end of August.<\/p>\n The emails Jay shared with The Intercept appear to come from genuine residents of the Knoxville area. Two residents confirmed to The Intercept that they had sent emails in support of Flock, although one said she had since switched her position.<\/p>\n While several emails contained personalized details, Jay said he considered the pro-Flock emails to be \u201cform letters\u201d nonetheless. In face-to-face conversations, Jay said, opposition to Flock ran 99-to-1.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just clearly a PR campaign,\u201d Jay said. \u201cDon\u2019t use my people. That\u2019s how it felt when I started to realize what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n At some point after the pro-Flock campaign came to an end, Neighbors for Strong Communities posted a defense of its tactics on its website.<\/a><\/p>\n The group acknowledged that it used \u201ctechnology\u201d to help residents craft missives to county officials. It said, however, that all of those residents were asked to sign off on the AI-generated drafts.<\/p>\n \u201cTechnology played a role in this campaign, but it was never the point,\u201d the group said on its website. \u201cThese are real people with real experiences. Whether someone ultimately agrees with every policy position or not, their voices deserve a place in the decisions shaping their community.\u201d<\/p>\n It remains unclear how the group handled responses from residents who oppose the use of Flock\u2019s cameras. The group said on its website that it \u201clistened\u201d to those responses but did not comment further when asked.<\/p>\n Flock\u2019s partnership with Neighbors for Strong Communities largely flew under the radar until weeks later, when the nonprofit partnered with Paramount Skydance<\/a> on its proposed merger. Critics of the merger noticed the group\u2019s earlier work in Knoxville and began asking questions about why a nonprofit would work on such disparate campaigns.<\/p>\n\n
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\u201cThis Is So Shady\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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\u201cClearly a PR Campaign\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u201cThese Are Real People\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![image of a man with six fingers<\/a> \u2014 a rare condition that is](\"https:\/\/neighborsforstrongcommunities.org\/assets\/knox-neighbors-Bli21da6.jpg\"){kind=link}