But the breadth of meddling discovered so far is one more argument for companies and Congress to put controls in place to prevent bad behavior. Facebook requires political advertisers to include disclaimers identifying themselves, which is a good thing — and more than the law mandates. (The Post and other publishers are challenging the constitutionality of a Maryland law passed last year that imposes similar requirements relating to online political ads. Companies will have to do that voluntarily, mandating that publishers reveal their origins and provide contact information for their administrators. The Democratic disinformation debacle exposes another facet of politics’ dark-money problem.

Source: Washington Post February 03, 2019 23:57 UTC