Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Bipartisan call from political operatives for online ad disclosures

Bipartisan call from political operatives for online ad disclosures
ARTPUPPY/Getty Images

In an unusual show of bipartisan collaboration among campaign operatives, seven leading political consultants from each party have united to endorse efforts to boost the regulation of online political advertising.

The continued absence of disclosure rules about who's paying for such ads, which were central to Russian interference in the 2016 election, "pose substantial threats to vital democratic norms and institutions," the group said in a statement this week. "The funding sources of digital political ads on all platforms and all systems must be made transparent. Voters are entitled to know who is paying for these ads."

The 14 operatives issued their declaration after a meeting convened by the University of Chicago. The group urged everyone in their industry to voluntarily disclose the identities of clients who pay for social media spots.

And, while they did not endorse any government action, what they are proposing is effectively what would be mandated by both legislation and regulations that have recently stalled.


The bill enjoys some bipartisan backing in Congress and the support of most Democratic presidential candidates, but it has been shelved under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's policy of keeping all measures designed to enhance election security and integrity off the Senate floor. Draft regulations were percolating at the Federal Election Commission before its membership shrank to three this fall, meaning it lacks a quorum for altering policy .

Both would subject paid political advertising to the same disclosure and disclaimer regulations as TV and radio spots. The bill would make Facebook, Google and other big-time social media platforms disclose the identity of those who spend as little as $500 on political ads on their platforms. The proposed FEC regulations would require the funders' identities to be displayed on the ads.

The statement from the 14 operatives did urge the government to focus on transparency measures that "target bad actors" without forcing "unnecessary disclosure of legitimate competitive information."

"Unfortunately, American policy makers, to date, have been largely unable to effectively address these threats, at least in part because they have been unable to identify, in today's highly polarized and contentious political environment, meaningful principles and policies that might receive the bipartisan support necessary for adoption," the seven Republicans and seven Democrats said in offering their proposals as a starting point.

The group also urged all campaign ad makers and political consultants to disavow any messaging that "incites violence or that is maliciously 'manufactured' to intentionally misrepresent actual events."

Read More

The Sanctuary City Debate: Understanding Federal-Local Divide in Immigration Enforcement
Police car lights.
Getty Images / Oliver Helbig

The Sanctuary City Debate: Understanding Federal-Local Divide in Immigration Enforcement

Immigration is governed by a patchwork of federal laws. Within the patchwork, one notable thread of law lies in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. The Act authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) programs, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to work in tandem with local agencies and law enforcement on deterrence and enforcement efforts. Like the now-discontinued Secure Communities program that encouraged information sharing between local police agencies and ICE, the law specifically authorizes ICE to work with local and federal partners to detain and deport removal-eligible immigrants from the country.

What are Sanctuary Policies?

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump Slams Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians Over Name Changes

President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Trump Slams Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians Over Name Changes

Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump has reignited controversy surrounding the Washington Commanders football team, demanding the franchise revert to its former name, the “Redskins,” a term widely condemned as a racial slur against Native Americans.

In a series of posts on Truth Social this past weekend, Trump declared, “The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team.” He went further, threatening to block the team’s $3.7 billion stadium deal in Washington, D.C., unless the name change is reversed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Media criticism
News media's vital to democracy, Americans say; then a partisan divide yawns
Tero Vesalainen/Getty Images

Public Media Under Fire: Why Project 2025 Is Reshaping NPR and PBS

This past spring and summer, The Fulcrum published a 30-part, nonpartisan series examining Project 2025—a sweeping policy blueprint for a potential second Trump administration. Our analysis explored the proposed reforms and their far-reaching implications across government. Now, as the 2025 administration begins to take shape, it’s time to move from speculation to reality.

In this follow-up, we turn our focus to one of the most consequential—and quietly unfolding—chapters of that blueprint: Funding cuts from NPR and PBS.

Keep ReadingShow less
Person voting

New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

Hill Street Studios/Getty Images

New York City’s Ranked Choice Voting: Democracy That’s Accountable to Voters

New York City’s election has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks, and ranked choice voting is a big part of the reason why.

Heads turned when 33-year-old state legislator Zohran Mamdani knocked off Andrew Cuomo, a former governor from one of the Democratic Party’s most prominent families. The earliest polls for the mayoral primary this winter found Mamdani struggling to reach even 1 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less