MCG19321 S.L.C.
116
TH
CONGRESS 1
ST
S
ESSION
S.
ll
To enhance transparency and accountability for online political advertisements by requiring those who purchase and publish such ads to disclose infor-mation about the advertisements to the public, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
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Ms. K
LOBUCHAR
(for herself, Mr. G
RAHAM
, and Mr. W
ARNER
) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
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A BILL
To enhance transparency and accountability for online polit-ical advertisements by requiring those who purchase and publish such ads to disclose information about the adver-tisements to the public, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honest Ads Act’’.
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SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
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The purpose of this Act is to enhance the integrity
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of American democracy and national security by improving
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disclosure requirements for online political advertisements
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MCG19321 S.L.C.
in order to uphold the United States Supreme Court’s
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well-established standard that the electorate bears the
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right to be fully informed.
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SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
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Congress makes the following findings:
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(1) On April 18, 2019, Special Counsel Robert
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Mueller released a report titled ‘‘Report on the In-
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vestigation into Russian Interference in the 2016
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Presidential Election’’, which concluded that ‘‘the
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Russian government interfered in the 2016 presi-
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dential election in sweeping and systemic fashion.’’.
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The report details that Russia interfered in the 2016
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presidential election principally through two oper-
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ations: first, through a Russian government spon-
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sored social media influence campaign, and second,
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by Russian intelligence ‘‘computer-intrusion’’ oper-
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ations against those associated with both presi-
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dential campaigns.
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(2) On September 6, 2017, the Nation’s largest
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social media platform disclosed that between June
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2015 and May 2017, Russian entities purchased
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$100,000 in political advertisements, publishing
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roughly 3,000 ads linked to fake accounts associated
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with the Internet Research Agency, a pro-Kremlin
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organization. According to the company, the ads
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MCG19321 S.L.C.
purchased focused ‘‘on amplifying divisive social and
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political messages ...’’.
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(3) In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform
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Act became law, establishing disclosure requirements
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for political advertisements distributed from a tele-
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vision or radio broadcast station or provider of cable
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or satellite television. In 2003, the Supreme Court
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upheld regulations on electioneering communications
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established under the Act, noting that such require-
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ments ‘‘provide the electorate with information and
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insure that the voters are fully informed about the
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person or group who is speaking.’’.
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(4) According to a study from Borrell Associ-
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ates, in 2016, $1,415,000,000 was spent on online
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advertising, more than quadruple the amount in
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2012.
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(5) The reach of a few large internet plat-
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forms—larger than any broadcast, satellite, or cable
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provider—has greatly facilitated the scope and effec-
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tiveness of disinformation campaigns. For instance,
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the largest platform has over 210,000,000 American
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users—over 160,000,000 of them on a daily basis.
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By contrast, the largest cable television provider has
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22,430,000 subscribers, while the largest satellite
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television provider has 21,000,000 subscribers. And
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