REVAMP URGED. REU. “An industry group for lobbyists on Tuesday called on Congress to overhaul the transparency laws that govern their activity in the wake of indictments of two lobbyists, including Paul Manafort, a former campaign manager for U.S. President Donald Trump.”
BOARD HIRES LOBBYISTS. CO. “Wells Fargo’s board has spent more than half a million dollars on lobbyists in the past year as it’s pushed to move past a major sales scandal over fake accounts, new disclosures show.”
RUSSIAN AD FALLOUT. WIRED. “Lawmakers pressed the tech giants for failing to stop voter suppression, not detecting Russian operatives paying for ads in rubles, and the terrifying power they possess over American politics. Then, lawmakers touted their efforts–on Facebook and Twitter, of course.”
FB COOPERATION. USAT. “Facebook has compelling reasons not to cooperate fully, and also for trying to limit its exposure to political advertisements. Why?”
ZUCK BLINDSPOT. NPR. “Facebook leaders now say that, perhaps by moving too quickly, they failed to anticipate all the ways in which people could abuse their platform.”
MESSAGING HEADACHE. AXIOS. “While much of the fake news conversation in the U.S. has been around fake news spreading on Facebook’s News Feed, reports of misinformation spreading globally on Facebook’s messenger properties, Whatsapp and Messenger, demonstrate another major problem for the global tech company.”
BITCOIN CONTRIBUTIONS. TR. “State and local political campaigns should not accept Bitcoin contributions because it is too difficult to trace payments, says a new report issued by the state of Kansas–but that doesn’t square with current federal guidance on the issue.”
SUPER PAC BUY. JSO. “On Tuesday, a Democratic super PAC launched a $1 million TV and digital ad defending Baldwin. Senate Majority PAC is controlled by allies of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.”
BILL ON FOREIGN LOBBYING. POL. “The new bills would empower the Department of Justice to enforce registrations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act by demanding the production of documents and testimony to ensure compliance. They also would eliminate a broad exemption from registration established in 1995 and charge DOJ with developing a comprehensive enforcement strategy, which would be reviewed by the department’s inspector general and later by the Government Accountability Office.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.