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Senators have a new plan to fix a major loophole that let Russia take advantage of Facebook and tech giants

New legislation introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner on Thursday aims to make the process of purchasing political advertisements more transparent.

  • Two Democratic senators introduced the Honest Ads Act on Thursday, which would make online political advertising more transparent and more unavailable to foreign entities
  • The legislation was introduced in response to recent disclosures by big tech companies that Russia used their platforms to purchase political ads during the election
  • Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google have reserved judgment on the bill, saying that they look forward to discussing it further with lawmakers

New legislation introduced by Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner on Thursday aims to make the process of purchasing political advertisements more transparent — and more difficult for foreign entities.

The bill, which was cosponsored by Republican Sen. John McCain, was introduced in response to Facebook's disclosure last month that Russia-linked accounts bought $100,000 worth of political ads during the 2016 presidential election.

The legislation would require "

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It is illegal for a foreign government or entity to spend money on political ads that express advocacy, or endorse one particular candidate over another, in an attempt to sway a US election. But the current

The Honest Ads Act would amend the requiring that online platforms make "reasonable efforts" to ensure that political ads are not "directly or indirectly" purchased by foreigners to "influence the American electorate."

The bill's definition of a

The legislation would also require platforms like Facebook and Google to allow "online public inspection" of the record of ads purchased by a particular group or individual, as well as "a description of the audience targeted" and the "number of views generated" from the ad.

Warner said in a statement that,

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But Facebook, Twitter, and Google have yet to explicitly endorse the bill in its current form.

"We look forward to engaging with Congress and the FEC on these issues," said a Twitter spokesperson.

"We’re evaluating steps we can take on our own platforms and will work closely with lawmakers, the FEC, and the industry to explore the best solutions,” Google said.

Klobuchar, meanwhile, was realistic about the companies' responses during a press conference on Thursday.

"I’m not going to tell you they support this bill right now," she said.

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Critics have said that while the bill is a positive step forward, it does not address the issue of how easy it was for Russia-linked accounts to spread disinformation and incite unrest.

Six Russia-linked Facebook accounts analyzed by Columbia University researcher Jonathan Albright posted content that was s

Read the full text of the bill below:

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