#CorpsArentPeople: Tester launches social media campaign

Senator’s defense of individual Americans’ rights heads to Facebook, Twitter

(U.S. SENATE) – Senator Jon Tester is well-known for his Constitutional amendments and Senate speeches warning against corporations’ growing influence over Americans’ private lives. Now, the Montana farmer is taking his fight to social media.

Tester today launched a #CorpsArentPeople social media campaign. The campaign will feature graphics on Facebook and Twitter showing that corporations can’t perform the same activities – like riding a bike – as real people.

“You don’t see corporations walking a dog or fishing on a Montana lake,” Tester said. “This campaign is about reminding folks that corporations aren’t people, and they shouldn’t get the same Constitutional protections. The Supreme Court’s recent decisions give corporations more say over our elections and private lives. That’s dangerous, and it’s time to fight back.”

Tester’s social media campaign comes on the heels of two U.S. Supreme Court rulings that elevated corporate rights over the rights of people. The Citizens United decision allows corporations to spend unlimited, secret amounts of money to influence elections establishing that corporations have the same free speech rights as actual people. The Hobby Lobby decision allows corporations to hold religious-based objections to providing insurance coverage for certain medical care, giving corporations the same religious rights as individuals.

Tester is encouraging Facebook and Twitter users to share the graphics using the hashtag #CorpsArentPeople so they reach as many Montanans and Americans as possible. The five graphics, which will be rolled out one-by-one on Tester’s Facebook page and his Twitter feed, include:

• A person walking a dog and a corporation attempting to follow suit
• A person flying a kite and a corporation attempting to follow suit
• A person fishing and a corporation attempting to follow suit
• A person riding a bike and a corporation attempting to follow suit
• A person hiking a mountain and a corporation attempting to follow suit

Recently, Tester slammed corporate influence over Americans’ lives in a widely seen Senate floor speech and has introduced a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decisions. Montanans overwhelmingly voted in 2012 to direct Montana’s Congressional delegation to amend the U.S. Constitution to empower Congress to limit corporate spending in elections.

To access all of the graphics, you can download them for Facebook HERE and for Twitter HERE.