U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), Vice Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence and former telecommunications executive, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced the Honest Ads Act (s. 1356) to help prevent foreign interference in future elections and improve the transparency of online political advertisements.
Russia attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election by buying and placing political ads on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google. The content and purchaser(s) of those online advertisements are a mystery to the public because of outdated laws that have failed to keep up with evolving technology. The Honest Ads Act would prevent foreign actors from influencing our elections by ensuring that political ads sold online are covered by the same rules as ads sold on TV, radio, and satellite.