Opn Sesame is an American company that provides peer-to-peer political text messaging to conservative platforms.

It was created by Gary Coby, and Gerrit Lansing. Coby was a director of advertising at the Republican National Committee and attached to Project Alamo. Lansing was formerly the Chief Digital Officer of the Republican National Committee and of the White House.[1][2]

Other political P2P texting platforms include Hustle and GetThru on the Democratic side and RumbleUp on the Republican side.[3][2]

During the 2020 presidential election, campaigns reduced their use of door to door canvassing due to the coronavirus pandemic, and online political advertising on social media platforms became more restricted. Thus, political text messaging became more valuable.[4]

On November 5 2020 Opn Sesame "...sent out thousands of targeted, anonymous text messages urging supporters to rally where votes were being counted in Philadelphia... falsely claiming Democrats were trying to steal the presidential election. The messages directed Trump fans to converge at a downtown intersection where hundreds of protesters from the opposing candidates’ camps faced off... A top Trump campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the message did not come from the campaign. Because Opn Sesame is used by multiple customers, none of whom the company would identify, it could not be determined exactly who sent the message. Coby declined to comment."

"After being notified, Twilio shut down the numbers, saying in a statement that the texts “were sent without consumer opt-out language, which is in direct contravention of our policies.” A company spokesman declined further comment."[5]

References

  1. ↑ O'Keefe, Patrick (28 August 2018). "How P2P Texting is Revolutionizing Politics". Medium. Retrieved 16 February 2020. Opn Sesame is the app backed by more heavy hitters in Republican politics. Gary Coby, the Director of Digital Advertising and Fundraising for President Trump in 2016 and Gerrit Lansing, the former Chief Digital Officer at the RNC and Chief Digital Officer at the White House, founded the app in many ways as "the Hustle of the right."
  2. 1 2 "Text campaigns are changing American politics — and nobody's ready - VICE". vice. Retrieved 16 February 2020. Trump's re-election campaign is furiously attempting to collect as many cell phone numbers as possible from their supporters in preparation for a massive direct-to-consumer text messaging operation. "In 2016 we used text like no one had seen before on the president's campaign," said Gary Coby, co-founder of Opn Sesame and the director of digital advertising and fundraising for Trump in 2016. "You won't catch us sleeping on text in 2020. We know everyone reads their texts."
  3. ↑ "US midterm candidates blitz reluctant voters with texts". ft.com. 5 November 2018. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  4. ↑ Glazer, Sarah Krouse and Emily (2020-10-27). "Who Is Policing Political Texts in the Final Days of Election? Wireless Companies Are Trying". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
  5. ↑ "Incendiary texts traced to outfit run by top Trump aide"
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