In case you missed it
Logically AI is the UK based company that the Washington Secretary of State hired to monitor social media posts and alert them when people are talking about elections back in June of 2023. The reports share a social media post of concern and lists the potential impacts it could have.
They report the election related social media content as “a threat to elections or election workers.” As one of the authors for this website, my content has been reported numerous times as threatening content. However, most of these posts are just people expressing concerns to their friends on social media and mean absolutely no harm.
If you aren’t already aware of the details of the work Logically AI is doing for the state, check out this article. https://whocountsthevotes.com/washington-outsources-censorship-for-election-threats/
Extending the contract
The original contract expired on 12/31/2024. They started discussing a contract extension around August of 2024, as shown in the below correspondence.
Problem with procurement method
At the time, there was controversy over the contract because the WA SOS paid South Puget Sound Community College to contract with Logically for them, for a 15% award for doing so. To the public, it appeared this was done to avoid the regular public bidding process that it should have gone through prior to awarding the contract.
After the public expressed concern over this, it appears they were told not to use this same method of contracting in the future. Here is an email within the OSOS discussing the matter and possibly extending the contract.
Authorized to use same procurement method to avoid disruption of services
Despite being directed not to utilize SPSCC to contract with Logically, they extended the contract through the end of June 2025. Kevin McMahon authorized the same method of procurement that they previously instructed the OSOS to avoid. See below.
Time was limited. It appears they didn’t plan this out very well. Or perhaps it was intentional to again avoid public scrutiny. Either way, the contract was extended through June 2025.
Following up
Since we learned about this contract back in 2023, we have been following up every few months to request the reports produced by Logically and keeping an eye on what they are watching. We also wanted to see how much of our content was included in the reports.
Sometime during the third or fourth quarter of 2024, the state would provide less and less reports from logically in response to our requests. We broadened the request hoping to get the apparent missing records, but it turned up nothing we didn’t already have. The last request produced only 2 alerts, and no other reports which Logically AI is contracted to produce for the state.
What was odd about the 2 alerts that they did provide, is they were both about content we published. No reports on other people’s “threatening online content,” just ours.
Brian Murphy instructs OSOS not to disclose Logically reports to the public
Missing records
The records that the OSOS is paying for include:
1. Narrative Alerts
2. Threat Alerts
3. Bi-Weekly Narrative and Threat Trend Reports
4. Final Narrative and Threat Report Trend Report
5. Narrative and Threat Briefings
None of which have been provided for November, December, January or February. And only a fraction of them were supplied for September and October. Also, the records I received reference a “final report” provided sometime around January 17th, but the report is not included in the records which have been released in response to our request.
If Logically AI is not fulfilling their contractual obligations, the Office of the Secretary of State is knowingly wasting public funds by continuing to contract with them despite their failure to meet deliverables, which may violate state laws governing contractual compliance.
If Logically AI is producing the reports the state is paying them to, the state is unjustifiably withholding them from the public.
Looking ahead
It appears as though the OSOS is considering other options to monitor social media going forward or adding two other programs to add to the Logically AI reporting.
Talkwalker is one of the products they are considering, and describe it as “a social listening platform that uses AI-driven analytics to monitor, analyze, and track online conversations and social media activity.” They claim, “It will enable ISR to instantly identify emerging narratives and track their virality, as well as generate new content based on trending topics and themes. Talkwalker could potentially consolidate tools like Logically AI and Sprout Social while providing deeper insights and more comprehensive analytics.”
Tableau is the other product they are considering. It is a data visualization tool that can be used to create interactive easy-to-understand dashboards and reports. “ISR can use Tableau to analyze large datasets and uncover insights about a variety of topics.”
