Honest Ads Act

But with heavy consequences for most retaliation methods, regulation of social media within the United States is also an appealing and practical option. In an era where many Americans look to social media to find their news, transparency and accuracy on these platforms has become increasingly important. Russia leveraged these platforms to spread its ideology, and the government could work with companies to prevent this from happening again. Currently, there are several bills in Congress meant to do this, the most prominent one being the Honest Ads Act. In an interview with NPR, Senator Mark Warner, one of the sponsors of the bill, clarified that the bill would fit in with regulations for traditional online and print ads that require companies …show more content…
The Council on Foreign Relations also recommends creating a database to allow users to see the companies and individuals that make political ads as well as the target audience of these paid ads. For social media companies, the council suggests the following: better regulation of false information and news, better management and disablement of bots, and more transparent ad usage. Already, Facebook, Twitter, and Google have taken positive actions such as banning RT and Sputnik, two Russian propaganda outlets, from advertising and allowing users to see if ads come from the Russian Internet Research Agency. Facebook has additionally pledged to hire 10,000 people to help monitor and filter ads and news on the platform. The government could be working with these companies to create uniform regulations across platforms. However, many critics of heavier regulation warn that these kinds of actions could start the United States down a slippery slope. Paul Levinson of The Conversation argues that government regulation would create more problems than