U.S. senate bill bids for transparency in election social media ads

The U.S. senate will consider a bill requiring companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter to deliver more information about political advertising on their networks. The Honest Ads Act will require the companies to create a public registry with the names and contact information of any person or group that spends over $500 a year on political ads online. (Forbes, October 19, 2017, by Kathleen Chaykowski)

The bill is intended to fight the meddling of foreign nations in U.S. elections and is backed by Republican John McCain who sees the act as an extension of the 2002 Campaign Reform Act that required advertisers to identify themselves in radio and TV political ads. (The Washington Times, October 19, 2017, by Andrew Blake)