Should Facebook have to register under FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act)?

[pnwmom]

The news stations Sputnik and RT are under FARA investigation, for pushing Russian propaganda in the US.

Gen. Flynn is under FARA investigation, for a part-time consulting job acting on behalf of Russia in the US.

Facebook took money from Russia and facilitated its placement of political ads during the 2016 campaign (and failed to meet FEC requirements to label the sponsor of the ads).

So why shouldn't Facebook be bound by the FARA laws?

http://www.campaignlegalcenter.org/news/blog/russia-s-facebook-ads-could-spell-trouble-any-american-who-lent-hand

Federal law not only prohibits a foreign national from making a campaign expenditure, it also prohibits anybody else from “knowingly providing substantial assistance” in the making of such an expenditure.

Facebook acknowledged that about one-quarter of the ads in question were “geographically targeted,” and others may have targeted particular messages to particular audiences—raising questions about whether the Russians received help from any Americans.

SNIP

But any person — associated with the Trump campaign or not — can still violate the ban on substantially assisting a foreign national’s campaign expenditure even if their conduct doesn’t meet the high legal bar of “coordinating” with the foreign national. So if an American helped the Russian firm target or select themes for the Facebook ads, for example, they may have run afoul of the law.

The Russian “troll farm” that bought these ads might be beyond the reach of prosecutors and Congressional investigators. But any American that may have helped the firm is not.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sputnik-russian-news-agency-investigation-fbi-090024231.html

[JonLP24]

1. Not at this point

As long as they are cooperating that's fine.

On edit -- This all depends on the level they were colluding if it is to be determined knowingly. It all depends, as long as they clean it up. I can't expect Sputnik to clean it up while RT America's stories usually can be verified by another source.

[pnwmom]

2. I read somewhere that they might be requiring RT to register, too. The issue isn't whether

one of their stories can be verified independently. It is whether they are acting as a propaganda arm of the Russian government. That could be the case if they allowed Russia to influence the choice of their topics, even if Russia gave them some "freedom" in the details of what they wrote.

[JonLP24]

4. They are

I don't disagree with you. I was just talking about stories on their webpage though I can't say all of their stories can be verified and not about their TV programming as I don't watch it. I probably shouldn't have included that part, I think RT is mostly harmless while Sputnik only goal seems to be to promote fake stories.

[Not Ruth]

3. Why not, they do business with Russia