Don’t Mess With US

Opinion: Paid Political Ads on Social Media Platforms Are a Disaster. It’s Time to Fix It.

Don't Mess With US, Honest Ads

This op-ed originally appeared in Morning Consult. America is under attack. Hostile foreign governments are spending millions of dollars to spread propaganda, hack our elections and manipulate our politics. This fact is getting lost among the snarky tweets and political posturing following Twitter’s decision to stop running all political ads and Facebook’s inadequate policies guiding its paid political advertising. The truth is

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Event: Decoding digital ads on Facebook, Google, Snapchat, and Twitter ahead of 2020

Don't Mess With US

Spending on digital political ads continues to grow as the 2020 election heats up. The top spenders – including President Donald Trump – are laser-focused on microtargeting potential donors and voters through paid advertising on the largest online platforms.  But Facebook, Google, Snapchat, and Twitter each have different policies about what makes an ad “political”, who can run the ads,

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New report: Digital Disaster — The failures of Facebook, Google, and Twitter’s political ad transparency policies

Don't Mess With US

Issue One’s latest report, “Digital Disaster: The failures of Facebook, Google, and Twitter’s political ad transparency policies,” reveals how piecemeal, voluntary approaches by the largest social media platforms to stop disinformation campaigns fail to protect our political system from foreign interference.  As the report shows clearly, the companies’ political ad transparency policies are a mess, and they do not measure

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Senate Intelligence Committee makes the case for the Honest Ads Act

Don't Mess With US

This week’s bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian foreign interference in the 2016 election is the latest and most definitive case for new legislation that would help improve transparency for online political ads as a way to bolster election security. “The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 requires political advertisements on television, radio, and satellite to disclose the sponsor

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Experts tell Capitol Hill staff of ongoing threats to U.S elections and how to address them as part of our “Don’t Mess With US” project

Don't Mess With US

Election security experts were optimistic of Capitol Hill’s efforts to prevent foreign interference and harden U.S. election infrastructure ahead of November 2020 but called for more action at a staff briefing today. The panel was hosted and moderated by Issue One CEO Nick Penniman as part of our “Don’t Mess With US” project.  “Election security is the greatest crisis facing our

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Arizona Senator Martha McSally (R) supports key election security legislation endorsed by Issue One’s “Don’t Mess With US” project

Don't Mess With US, Honest Ads

This week, Arizona Republican Senator Martha McSally co-sponsored the DETER Act (S. 1060), one of the bills in the suite of legislative proposals Issue One’s “Don’t Mess With US” project highlights as necessary to stop foreign attacks on our political system.  In July, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) — lead sponsors of the DETER Act —

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Reps. Bill Posey (R-FL) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) co-sponsor the Honest Ads Act

Don't Mess With US, Honest Ads

This week, Reps. Bill Posey (R-FL) and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) joined in co-sponsoring the Honest Ads Act, the best first step to secure our elections by preventing paid, foreign disinformation campaigns on the largest online platforms.  This brings the total number of sponsors in the House and Senate to 39 — 19 Republicans and 20 Democrats.  “The Honest Ads Act

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Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) supports increased election security funding

Congress, Don't Mess With US

Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee issued the following statement:  This morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) walked back his staunch opposition to further securing our elections and said he is now willing to support additional grant money to the states.  This move follows pressure from a growing number of groups from across the political spectrum that have been

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Issue One: Support for election security is growing across political spectrum

Don't Mess With US

Today, Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon, retired Lieutenant Colonel and President of the London Center for Policy Research Tony Shaffer, and Vice President for Programs at National Election Defense Coalition Susan Greenhalgh called on Congress to strengthen our national security and provide support to states to protect our elections ahead of 2020.  The press

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Election security at risk: 5 loopholes that allow foreign interference in our elections

Congress, Don't Mess With US, Honest Ads, National Security

Issue One’s latest report, “5 Loopholes That Allow Foreign Interference in Our Elections,” reveals how our broken political system allows China, Iran, Russia, and other foreign adversaries to interfere in U.S. elections.  From hacking our election systems to spreading disinformation campaigns online to using unregistered lobbyists, foreign actors are using more subversive tactics to attack our elections than ever before. “The

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