Bills introduced in U.S. Congress to Increase Transparency for Online Political Advertising - State and Federal Communications

October 20, 2017  •  

Bills introduced in U.S. Congress to Increase Transparency for Online Political Advertising

On October 19, two bipartisan bills allowing increased monitoring of online political advertising were introduced in the U.S. Congress. Companion bills House Resolution 4077, The Honest Ads Act, and Senate Bill 1989 direct the Federal Election Commission to enact rules for online advertisements similar to currents rules for television and radio. Larger digital platforms would be required to make available to the public requests to run political advertisements costing more than $500.

The bills were introduced by U.S. Representatives Derek Kilmer and Mike Coffman and Senators Amy Klobuchar, Mark Warner, and John McCain in response to “revelations that a Russian company purchased upwards of 3,000 political advertisements on Facebook in an effort to influence the 2016 Presidential election,” according to a press release by Kilmer.

“Our bipartisan bill makes sure our laws are as up to date as the latest technology, and makes it harder for foreign actors to use the internet to attack our democracy,” Kilmer said in his press release.

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