Topic: Honest Ads Act

The bipartisan "Honest Ads Act," sponsored by Senators Warner, McCain, and Klobuchar, seeks to improve disclosure requirements for online political advertisements. The bill's findings cite Russian messaging strategies involving "trolls" and "bots" to manipulate voters in decisive states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Facebook is preemptively changing its policies to require authorization for issue-related ads ahead of congressional testimony.

Senator Amy Klobuchar is working with Senator Mark Warner on legislation to regulate paid political advertising on the internet. The proposed bill would require platforms to maintain a public file of all election-related communications and disclose the target audience and cost of the ads.