Twitter has banned political ads, Facebook hasn't — who's in the right? There are powerful arguments on both sides, but the one thing they all have in common is the desire to strike some sort of balance between freedom of political speech and attempting to quell the flow of false information.Source: Silicon Valley congressman: Regulate political ads on Facebook just...
On November 6, the California Secretary of State released a Report of Registration, the first state tally since February 2019. All six of the qualified parties increased their share of the registration. The number of independent voters decreased, both as a percentage and in absolute numbers.Source: California Releases New Registration Data; All Qualified Parties Increase; Independent Voters Decrease...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) – Already cast as a constitutional “trampling” by a federal judge, California’s bid to reveal President Donald Trump’s tax returns to primary voters sputtered again Wednesday before the state Supreme Court.Source: Justices Skeptical of California’s Demand of Tax Returns From Candidates...
Campaigning for president is a multi-million dollar business, and not every candidate follows the same business model. OpenSecrets’ recently updated expenditures database reveals that 2020 Democrats are deploying vastly different spending strategies to compete for the nomination.Source: How are presidential candidates spending their campaign cash?...
PASADENA, Calif. (CN) – A Ninth Circuit panel scrutinized a former Southern California mayor’s challenge to the state’s Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, seeming to doubt his claim that a change in the way the city elects its council members had unconstitutional consequences.Source: Ninth Circuit Takes New Swipe at Ex-Mayor’s Fight of Voting Districts...
Since Republican Commissioner Matthew Petersen resigned in August, the Federal Election Commission has only had three commissioners and lacked the four commissioners necessary for it to approve agency actions.Source: Blame for Lack of FEC Quorum Lies with Schumer, Not McConnell...
Days after Mark Zuckerberg planted his flag in favor of free speech by announcing that Facebook wouldn’t censor political advertising, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, apparently bowing to pressure from his platform’s largely liberal user base, announced a contrary policy: Twitter will no longer acceptSource: Twitter’s Banning of Political Ads Demonstrates Confusion About Free Speech....
Alexandria, VA – Nearly five years ago the Missouri Ethics Commission (“MEC”) ordered Ron Calzone, an unpaid grassroots activist, to pay a $1,000 fine and prohibited him from discussing policy with lawmakers until he registered and filed reports as though he was a professional “lobbyist.Source: Volunteers Are Not Lobbyists, Rules Eighth Circuit...
Ellen L. Weintraub is chair of the Federal Election Commission. Twitter’s surprise announcement on Wednesday that it would stop selling political advertising is an inflection point in paid political ads on the Internet.Source: Don’t abolish political ads on social media. Stop microtargeting....
Sens. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) told POLITICO they also want to see Google explain itself or rethink its policies.Source: Eyes turn to Google as political ads divide Silicon Valley...
