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Democrats Ask FEC To Create New Rules To Keep Foreign Influence Off Social Media Ads (thehill.com)
Cristina Marcos reports via The Hill: Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to establish new guidelines for online advertising platforms that would prevent foreign spending to influence U.S. elections. The move comes after Facebook provided information to Congress and special counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the FBI's investigation into Russia's election interference, about Russian ad purchases during the 2016 campaign.
"The recent revelations that foreign nationals with suspected ties to the Russian government sought to influence the 2016 election through social media advertisements are deeply concerning and demand a response," 20 House and Senate Democrats wrote in the letter. "We are fast approaching the 2018 election cycle. As such, it is imperative the Federal Election Commission begin this effort in earnest," they wrote. CNN, which first reported on the Democrats' letter, cited Facebook sources saying they expect Congress may try to require disclaimers on online political ads in the future, similar to political television ads. The Democratic lawmakers suggested that any FEC guidance address how foreign actors can use corporate or nonprofit designations to avoid disclosing political spending; what advertisement platforms can do to prevent foreign campaign activity; and possible changes to disclosure standards for political advertisements.
"The recent revelations that foreign nationals with suspected ties to the Russian government sought to influence the 2016 election through social media advertisements are deeply concerning and demand a response," 20 House and Senate Democrats wrote in the letter. "We are fast approaching the 2018 election cycle. As such, it is imperative the Federal Election Commission begin this effort in earnest," they wrote. CNN, which first reported on the Democrats' letter, cited Facebook sources saying they expect Congress may try to require disclaimers on online political ads in the future, similar to political television ads. The Democratic lawmakers suggested that any FEC guidance address how foreign actors can use corporate or nonprofit designations to avoid disclosing political spending; what advertisement platforms can do to prevent foreign campaign activity; and possible changes to disclosure standards for political advertisements.
...how these discussions and articles and pundents never mention... China... in the list of foreign influences on the USA?
It's not like China has ever directly involved themselves in our elections before...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ... shit.
You know it's illegal for a foreign national to buy campaign ads in the US, right? Has been for a while now. For 45 years, to be exact. FECA was signed into law in 1972, by Richard M. Nixon.
You are welcome on my lawn.
There are already restrictions on campaign advertising. No one claims they violate the first amendment
It's been illegal for foreign nationals to purchase campaign ads for US elections since 1972. It's even illegal to sell campaign ads to foreign nationals (putting Facebook in some jeopardy in the event the Justice Department decides to enforce the law).
The letter from Dems to the FEC is a request for information from the commission explaining how they're going to meet this legal obligation in regard to social media advertising.
You are welcome on my lawn.
No, it's against the law. Unfortunately, Congress has never implemented the disclosure laws that the Supreme Court insisted upon with their Citizens United decision. It's a fucked up situation all around, and there's been zero will from the Republican-controlled Congress to do anything about how easy it is to game our elections with money.
You are welcome on my lawn.
When Obama was president, there was a law in place to cover disclosure of campaign money. It was called McCain-Finegold and got overturned the by the Supreme Court, after which the Republicans took over the House and as I said, then there was no will to pass any laws requiring disclosure of campaign funding.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Somebody had better goddamned well be spying on the "Donald camp," or they'll sell the whole country down the Volga.
Methinks you doth project too much.
Selling the whole country down the Volga would be Hillary!'s bailiwick:
Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal
Note the source.
The US has been interfering with foreign elections for over 60 years. Even a Liberal rag admits it: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-us-intervention-foreign-elections-20161213-story.html
Democrats are pissed for having their dirty laundry aired, as if they felt that only Republicans should have their's aired. The facts remain that all of the leaked emails and social ads were merely revealing the truth about how crooked the DNC had become.
No, it's because GP is correct. Hillary's campaign mostly catered to upper spectrum socioeconomic democrats, while ignoring the wants of practically all of the states that she lost, while at the same time referring to them as "deplorables" and "angry white men", with the media (especially pop-culture talk shows like the view, the daily show, etc) and the democratic political elite doing the same. I see the democrats talk about how we need to protect marginalized groups all the time, and it seems that their solution to protecting them is by marginalizing another group. (European politicians are doing the same thing on a large scale lately, by the way, and they wonder why there's a sudden dramatic rise in the number of people voting for far, far right parties.)
You yourself are beholden to this exact same hypocrisy.
Hillary's loss was well deserved. Besides, I distinctly recall during the 2004 election when the Democrats were praising foreign intervention:
https://www.theguardian.com/wo...
Not that I support Russian intervention, mind you, nor do I support Trump, nor am I a conservative.