Ruling Requires Campaigns To Report When They Pay People To Post Political Opinions
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A ruling by the California Fair Political Practices Commission Thursday aimed to bring more transparency to online political campaign posts.
KNX 1070's Megan Goldsby reported that new regulations will require campaigns to report when they pay people to post favorable or unfavorable opinions.
Ruling Requires Campaigns To Report When They Pay People To Post Political Opinions
"A voter could read a blog, a tweet or a Facebook post by a paid political hack and have no idea that that opinion was purchased," said Consumer Watchdog Executive Director Carmen Balber.
"There are no standards for the people who are posting. If a journalist lies, they're going to be fired. But the political hacks are able to disguise the fact that they're getting paid for their opinion," she added.
Goldsby said a person will have to come clean about being paid in the post or the campaign will have to file a report declaring the connection.
Blogger Steve Maviglio, who publishes the California Majority Report, said he also believes in transparency, but thinks it's impossible to police sites like Twitter.
"It's unworkable and unenforceable. It's going to require anybody who works on a campaign that is tweeting or posting to Facebook to file an avalanche of paperwork with a commission that's overworked and over strapped," he said.
