Congress to Probe Online Political Ad Policies
The digital advertising community needs to adopt tighter controls for what goes on websites, said Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg in testimony prepared for a Tuesday House Oversight IT Subcommittee hearing. There’s a “role” for government regulation and opportunities for the Federal Election Commission to update rules for today’s online communications, but “we believe that legislation alone will be unable to address the underlying need for greater transparency in the digital advertising industry” without trampling free speech, the testimony said.
Online companies were asked to brief House Commerce Committee staff about how they police content on their websites. The request came in a letter House Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., sent Monday to CEOs of Google parent company Alphabet, Facebook and Twitter. Worried that companies' content policies may be tilted more toward increasing page views and ad clicks, Pallone said he wants a better understanding of content management and advertising policies. “The influence of the internet over our national dialogues and our lives has skyrocketed over the past decade,” the letter said. Companies were asked to provide details on how they develop and publicize content policies, develop safeguards to root out fabricated content, use algorithms to promote stories and enforce against violations. Google, Facebook and Twitter didn't comment.
IAB has a track record of “taking responsibility” for ensuring the trustworthiness of digital advertising and media through a self-policing program implemented across over 650 companies, Rothenberg’s testimony said. Congress is right to be concerned over “illicit foreign influence in paid campaign advertising” but the challenge will be to set up the right system for more transparency. Political speech is the most protected form of speech and courts consistently accorded ever-stronger protections over the years, and it “must not be stifled,” he said. IAB said Congress should study its self-regulatory approach as it considers legislation.
If Congress decides to impose ad disclosure obligations, the responsibility for collecting those disclosures "should reside with a government agency that has the experience and authority to do so,” broadcast attorney Jack Goodman told us. Goodman said he's not advocating for or against legislation, but will tell Congress how the system works in its current form and what changes would be workable.
“Political ads on the internet should be subject to the same regime as those in other mass media," Ian Vandewalker, Brennan Center for Justice senior counsel, emailed us. "The internet will only continue to grow in importance as a medium for political messages, and leaving it unregulated will allow more mischief like Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election." The U.S. has a long history of keeping foreign money from influencing elections, but that can't continue if political spending on the internet is left out of the campaign finance regime, he said.
Congress ought to “act with care” if it moves forward with legislation to regulate online advertising, said prepared testimony from Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) Legal Director Allen Dickerson. Last week, the group called the Honest Ads Act (see 1710190054) ”dark legislation” that would end up “imposing more broad burdens on Americans’ speech rights rather than targeting foreign interests interfering with our elections,” CCP Chairman Brad Smith said in a press statement. Smith, a former chairman of the FEC, said the bill “would make America look a little bit more like Russia.” The Honest Ads Act’s proposal to impose the same regulations on online sites that broadcasters have to follow would be difficult. “Broadcast mass advertising is not a game for small grassroots speakers,” Dickerson’s testimony said. Because the internet plays such an important role in facilitating grassroots speech, Congress should take care not to impose “overzealous or ill-considered restrictions,” it said.
The News Media Alliance will urge Congress to push online sites to “make the same commitments as publishers and modernize their platforms to help stem the flow of misinformation,” said CEO David Chavern’s prepared testimony. He said the FEC should update its rules so they apply to every medium and “there is no longer a justification for exempting the internet.” Companies need to adjust ad-driven business models “so that higher-quality, reputable content is elevated in search and news feeds,” Chavern said.