Proposed law would regulate online ads to hinder Russian election influence

A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers wants to make it more difficult for Russia to influence US elections. To that end, the group has drawn up legislation requiring Internet-based companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook to disclose who is buying political advertisements on their platforms and maintain those records after elections.

The Honest Ads Act would heap on the Internet some of the same types of political advertising rules that apply for TV, radio, and print. The legislation is designed to somehow enforce federal election laws that forbid foreign nationals and foreign governments from spending money in the US to influence elections.

"We understand that election security is national security, and we know Russian threats to national security don't always involve traditional weapons of war," Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said at a news conference announcing the legislation.

The proposal comes ahead of a November 1 congressional hearing concerning how Russia took advantage of online platforms with political advertising during last year's presidential election season. Facebook, for example, says it found about 500 "inauthentic" accounts it believes are linked to Russia.

Despite the measure's good intentions, it already has its critics. Bloomberg News points out the obvious:

So, under the Honest Ads Act, a troll cleverly disguised as Jane Doe or John Smith, and ostensibly based in Random Location on Google Maps, U.S.A., will still be able to buy and run any kind of political ad—all from the outskirts of St. Petersburg. The transaction will be clearly recorded under the fake name and stored in a vast archive in which no one but a dedicated investigator will be able to find anything of value.

Still, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement that "Unfortunately, US laws requiring transparency in political campaigns have not kept pace with rapid advances in technology, allowing our adversaries to take advantage of these loopholes to influence millions of American voters with impunity."

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) acknowledged that the legislation is likely to change and is not a panacea. "What we want to try to do is start with a light touch," he said.

The proposed bill requires the tech sector to keep track of political ad buys of $500 or more in one year and also would require online platforms with at least 50 million unique monthly visitors to attach disclosures on ads such as "Paid for by Candidate Smith"—the same type of disclosures required in other mediums.