A bipartisan group of influential lawmakers is expected to introduce the Honest Ads Act this week, legislation that would seek to increase transparency in American elections—and foreign election tampering—through stricter disclosure requirements.
The proposed bill, sponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mark Warner (D-VA), and John McCain (R-AZ), would create federal disclosure requirements for online political advertising, including listing individuals or entities who paid for them—and their contact information.
"This is the first substantive bipartisan piece of legislation that’s trying to — with a very light touch, because we don’t want to slow down innovation, or restrict free speech or people’s access to the internet — to deal with the problem that we saw in 2016 in terms of foreign interference in our electoral process," Warner told reporters.
The Hill reports that the bill may seek to require digital platforms with more than 1 million users (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc.) to “maintain a public file of all electioneering communications purchased” when a person or group spends more than $10,000.
Would the Honest Ads Act – as described – have any notable effect?
“I guess better late than never,” said Steve Hall, a Cipher Brief expert and former member of the CIA’s Senior Intelligence Service. But he cautioned that knowing the source of the money behind the ads may not be enough to determine who is paying for them. Russia often uses hackers, middlemen and front companies to obscure its involvement.
Thus far, Sen. McCain is the only Republican to sign on to the legislation.
One of the top associations representing Facebook, Google and other tech companies that might be affected by the legislation is reserving judgement. Mark MacCarthy, Senior Vice President for Public Policy at the Software & Information Industry Association told The Cipher Brief he has “talked with sponsors of this new legislation,” but without having seen the draft language, “it’s hard to assess whether this approach will be practical for platforms.”
Facebook, Twitter, and Google have been asked to publicly testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on November 1 to face questions about Kremlin-backed efforts to influence American political opinions on their platforms, while the House of Representatives expects to hear from the companies later this month.
Brian Garrett-Glaser is content manager at The Cipher Brief. Follow him on Twitter @bgarrettglaser.
