Washington, D.C. — After the Federal Election Commission (FEC) announced that it would begin a rule-making process to provide voters necessary information about the purchasers of online political ads, Liz Kennedy, director of Democracy and Government Reform at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
It’s about time the FEC acted to prevent foreign interference in our nation’s elections. The commission should move quickly to create new rules that prevent secret sponsors—from foreign governments to deep-pocketed corporations—from buying anonymous political ads on Facebook, Twitter, and other online channels. Congress should also step in to pass legislation that would apply some of the same basic disclosure requirements to online ads as it does to television ads, as well as require social media companies to take reasonable steps to prevent foreign influence in our elections. These dark money channels are a threat to our national security, and voters have a right to this information before secret political spending does further harm to the integrity of our democracy.
For more information or to speak to an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at 202-478-6327 or [email protected].