Following the introduction today of the For the People Act in the House of Representatives, MapLight President and Co-Founder Daniel G. Newman issued the following statement:
“The 2020 election and its aftermath have made it more clear than ever that we cannot take our democracy for granted. As political disinformation continues to spread online, barriers to voting persist, and big money maintains an outsize role in our elections, it’s past time for comprehensive reforms to improve our democratic infrastructure.
In addition to addressing gerrymandering, limiting the role of money in politics, and expanding access to voting, the For the People Act begins to tackle the weaponization of disinformation in politics and holds big technology and social media companies to account. It improves transparency by requiring large online platforms to maintain a public database of all online political ads shown to their users, expands disclosure rules for online political ads, and requires online platforms to make all reasonable efforts to prevent foreign individuals and entities from purchasing political advertisements to influence the American electorate. Combined, these reforms will help combat disinformation, hold digital platforms accountable, and increase transparency for voters about who’s attempting to influence them online.
This bill marks a major step forward in achieving a responsive, accountable democracy that works for all of us. We applaud the leadership in the House of Representatives for recognizing the urgency of passing the For the People Act. Our democracy has already been bent right up to its breaking point. Now it’s time we finally focus on the repairs we need.”
Click here to view MapLight’s letter to members of Congress in support of the For the People Act and here to view more information about the reforms included in the For the People Act.
