Office of Rep. Derek Kilmer announcement.
On April 13, 2023, U.S. Representatives Derek Kilmer (WA-06) and Mike Gallagher (WI-08) reintroduced the Honest Ads Act to prevent foreign interference in future elections and improve the transparency of online political advertisements. The bill would ensure online political advertisements are better monitored by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and would enable the FEC to enact rules for online advertisement like those in place for television, radio, and satellite ads, with the goal of making clear to the American public who is funding these online ads and to inhibit foreign actors from purchasing them.
The legislation was included in the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act and passed the House of Representatives last year. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Rules Committee, and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, also released companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.
“Foreign interests shouldn’t be able to buy online ads to influence American elections – period,” said Rep. Kilmer. “Congress should fix the loopholes in our system and ensure Americans know who is paying for the online political ads they’re seeing. This important, bipartisan legislation will ensure that our laws are up to date with the latest technology and make it harder for foreign actors to use the internet to attack our democracy.”
“The Chinese Communist Party, Russia, and other adversaries will use every tool available to them to undermine American democracy,” said Rep. Gallagher. “The Honest Ads Act brings digital political advertising regulations into the 21st century and closes a loophole that our enemies could use against us to subvert Americans’ faith in our institutions. I’m proud to support this bipartisan legislation and look forward to continued work to secure American democracy.”
According to multiple intelligence reports, Russia attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying and placing political ads on online digital platforms. The identity of the purchaser(s) and developer(s) of the content for those online advertisements remain a mystery to the public because of outdated laws that have failed to keep up with evolving technology. The Honest Ads Act would prevent foreign actors from influencing our elections by ensuring that political ads sold online are covered by the same rules as ads sold on TV, radio, and satellite platforms.
The Honest Ads Act proposes improving disclosure requirements for online political advertisements by:
- Amending the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002’s definition of electioneering communication to include paid Internet and digital advertisements.
- Requiring digital platforms with at least 50,000,000 monthly viewers to maintain a public file of all electioneering communications purchased by a person or group who spends more than $500.00 total on ads published on their platform. The file would contain a digital copy of the advertisement, a description of the audience the advertisement targets, the number of views generated, the dates and times of publication, the rates charged, and the contact information of the purchaser.
- Requiring online platforms to make all reasonable efforts to ensure that foreign individuals and entities are not purchasing political advertisements to influence the American electorate.
“For our democracy to work, we need strong rules in place so the American people know who is behind the political advertising they see online,” said Sen. Klobuchar. “By ensuring online political advertisements meet the same disclaimer requirements as television, radio, and print advertisements, this legislation would bring much-needed transparency to our campaign finance system and help prevent foreign interference in our elections. At a time when our democracy continues to face threats, it is vitally important that we know who is attempting to influence our elections.”
The Honest Ads Act is supported by the Campaign Legal Center, the Brennan Center for Justice, the Center for American Progress, Issue One, End Citizens United / Let America Vote Action Fund, and Common Cause.
“Americans have the right to know exactly who is trying to influence their vote, and this includes online political advertisements. As digital ads become increasingly prominent, it’s essential that there’s greater transparency about who is behind this big spending,” said Tiffany Muller, President of End Citizens United // Let America Vote Action Fund. “The addition of transparency and accountability to online advertisements has bipartisan support and Congress should pass this important bill.”
“Campaigns have increasingly moved online, but federal campaign finance laws have not kept up,” said Daniel Weiner, Director, Elections and Government, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU. “Loopholes in the existing law permit political actors – including foreign governments and companies – to bombard Americans with online ads without disclosing their identities. The Honest Ads Act is common-sense, bipartisan legislation that will help ensure spending on campaign ads online is transparent and help safeguard U.S. sovereignty by protecting the integrity of our political process.”
“This legislation would help protect elections from foreign interference and ensure that Americans know the sources behind billions of dollars worth of online political advertisements,” said Greta Bedekovics, associate director of Democracy Policy at the Center for American Progress. “The Honest Ads Act would create uniform disclosure and disclaimer standards for online political ads the same way we have for political ads on radio and TV. While some social media companies have voluntarily adopted transparency measures, these have largely been ineffective, and millions of dollars in political spending is going unreported. That’s why we need a uniform standard, not a patchwork of self-enforced policies. The legislation includes important updates to ensure its more narrowly tailored and efficiently implemented. It’s critical for the health of our democracy that Americans know who is trying to influence their political opinions and decisions with money—whether it’s on TV, radio, or social media.”
Sure but please don’t do ANYTHING about lobbying, especially transparent reporting of who gets what from which country or corporation.
Sure, yet nothing mentioned about transparency and honesty monitoring of our local politicians including their financial backing ie., George Soros. Let’s be real – all or nothing v. cherry picking.
Then there’s Zuckerburg’s $500,000,000.00 in election interference the last go-around.
To change a mail-in only ballot in Washington, the instructions say to line through the wrong choice and simply make a different selection.
To invalidate a ballot, simply choose more than one candidate.
There is no receipt for how we voted, only that we voted.
That could use some accountability.