Google has sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission letting them know that they strongly support new and stricter rules being put in place to attempt to stop outside countries (Russia being the obvious one) from influencing elections. They are asking regulators to put in tough new rules regarding political ads and even went as far as to say that banning foreign entities from running ads about certain issues should be considered.
The contents of the letter said, “Now more than ever, we must work together to improve transparency, enhance disclosures and reduce foreign abuse and influence in US elections. Google strongly supports the commission’s proposal to proceed with a rulemaking so that the commission can provide the clarity that campaigns and other political advertisers need to determine what disclaimers they are required to include.”
Foreign countries are currently allowed to run ads in the US as long as there are proper disclosures about the spending being made. They can’t, however, attempt to interfere with elections directly through the ads. Of course, saying they can’t interfere with the elections directly is a pretty vague rule that is going to be difficult to enforce in any except the most obvious situations.
Companies like Facebook and Twitter are putting in their own internal rules and regulations to combat this type of election influencing, but having laws on the books would take it a step further in regards to what any companies or foreign entities could get away with.
