A politician all over my twitter feed hosted a "petition"... she never was stupid enough to believe the petition would achieve its claimed effect—but the circulation of it did achieve the effect she wanted most: having lots of people repeat her name and link to her website.
Never confuse the explicit claims of politicians and their actual goals. Only fools take the claims at face value — and there are lots of fools. Problem being, the fools are not just victims getting deserved punishment, but also accomplices in victimizing others.