Klobuchar, Warner to Unveil Legislation Thursday Regulating Online Political Ads
Bipartisan Senate legislation aimed at regulating online political advertising on sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter, similar to how broadcasters and others report such ads, will be unveiled at a Thursday 12:40 p.m. news conference by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia, said a news release. After Facebook revealed Russian entities bought at least 3,000 political ads for about $100,000 to influence the U.S. presidential election (see 1709250058), the pair floated the legislative proposal nearly a month ago to get Republican support. The release said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is co-sponsoring the bill called the Honest Ads Act.
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Details will matter, said Stetson University election law professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy. "It could be quite effective in closing the current loophole which presently allows for unregulated paid political ads on-line by requiring platforms like [F]acebook to keep a public file on who is buying political ads," she said of the senators' proposal. "Keeping a public file is already required of broadcasters who carry ads about federal candidates and [this is] one of the laws that fosters increased transparency," she emailed. The briefing will be livestreamed.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Klobuchar told Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was grilled by several senators about Russian meddling in the election, that the proposed legislation regulating online political ads is a national security issue. "It is also completely absurd that we have some kinds of ads that you can register and check out on public file and these others are completely dark and hidden from view,“ she said. Klobuchar asked Sessions whether election laws should be updated and he replied "perhaps" they should be. Later, Klobuchar tweeted it was "good to hear" Sessions will work with her and Warner to strengthen disclosure requirements.
In a "Dear Colleague" letter floated three weeks ago, Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., said he plans to introduce legislation to require online platforms to develop and host publicly available databases that provide information about political ads. His office didn't comment.
In recent weeks, Facebook, Twitter and Google conceded their sites were manipulated to spread misinformation during last year's election and they have been talking to lawmakers' and their staffs about the issue. The House Oversight and Government Reform IT Subcommittee plans a Tuesday hearing on traditional and online political ads (see 1710170053), and reports say the House and Senate Intelligence Committees plan Nov. 1 public hearings, inviting representatives from the three companies to testify.
Electronic Privacy Information Center President Marc Rotenberg told us Tuesday that Congress needs to act to provide more accountability and transparency to stem Russian meddling in U.S. elections, hopefully through bipartisan legislation. He said everyone will learn more from the Nov. 1 hearings. "It is a story that as we learn more I think people become more concerned and that's also a scenario that oftentimes leads to legislation," he added.
Meanwhile, the Federal Election Commission last week reopened the comment period for an advance NPRM (first published Oct. 13, 2011, in the Federal Register and reopened once in 2016) on whether it should begin a rulemaking to revise regulations on disclaimers for certain internet communications. The FEC is seeking information by Nov. 9 about whether existing disclaimer rules can be applied to internet ads, how political campaigns, committees and parties and voters send and receive electoral information via the internet and other technologies, and the benefits of disclaimers. The FEC said it reopened the latest comment period "in light of recent developments."