Federal Election Commission (FEC) to Review New Rules for Political Ads on Social Media
In the wake of revelations concerning meddling and
interference by Russian parties in the 2016 presidential campaign, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) - the
independent regulatory agency whose purpose it is to enforce campaign finance
law in United States federal elections - is now set to review the rules which
govern the placement and nature of political ads on online platforms, FEC
Commissioner Ellen Weintraub revealed at a tech conference on Monday.
The FEC agreed in late 2017 to come up with new rules after
congressional committees demanded action from social media companies and
lawmakers alike in response to the $100,000 worth of ads revealed by Facebook in
September to have been purchased by Russian troll farms on their platform. Congress
and the Senate were joined in their plea by various other parties and
organisations including tech giant Google, whose influence will surely help
proceedings move forward in good time.
Weintraub revealed few details concerning the proposed rule
changes during Monday’s announcement, though she did give us an idea of the
timescale the FEC will work to as she told her audience, “I’m hoping that we are
going to be able move this rule-making forward within this election cycle.”
Also present at the conference was Katie Harbath, Facebook
Inc.’s Global Politics and Government Outreach Director, who addressed the
audience to make clear the company’s intent to take a strong stance against the
issue in the future, and enact meaningful change as soon as possible.
According to Harbath, Facebook will begin archiving
advertisements from political groups that have to file with the FEC or the
Internal Revenue Service for four years, as well as providing users with details
of the money spent on said ads and access to demographical data such as the
age, gender, and location of those who see them.
Though Facebook do indeed seem clear in their intent to
correct the issue, Harbath admitted they are still working out the details
regarding how to best go about these changes.
“Do we do it by ad? Do we do it by campaign? Do we do it by
day?” said Harbath, “There are a lot of different options there that we are
trying to work through to help provide more of this transparency and
authentication of people who are buying political ads on our platform.”
Sam is an aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers. Currently working as Editor of Social Songbird, he hopes to one day drop that 'aspiring' prefix. Follow him @Songbird_Sam
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Federal Election Commission (FEC) to Review New Rules for Political Ads on Social Media
Reviewed by Unknown
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Tuesday, January 30, 2018
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Reviewed by Unknown
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Tuesday, January 30, 2018
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