Skip to main content

Sarbanes Calls for Stronger Disclosure Requirements for Online Political Ads [Video]

October 24, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During an Oversight & Government Reform Information Technology Subcommittee hearing today, Democracy Reform Task Force Chair Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) stepped up calls for stronger rules to prevent foreign agents from influencing U.S. elections with online ads.

Congressman Sarbanes asked a panel of experts whether the current disclosure rules for online ads are strong enough to prevent foreign actors from meddling in future American elections. Only 1 in 5 witnesses said, "yes."

"I don't think it's adequate," Congressman Sarbanes said. "We've got to anticipate what comes next. It's hard sometimes to do that, but I would think putting a baseline regime of disclosure in place – with respect to what's happening online – would be one thing that we could do to be more ready than we are now. So we're obviously going to encourage our colleagues to continue to push very hard for this kind of disclosure."

A full video of the Congressman's remarks is below.

###