Truth in Media Labeling & Broadcast Accountability
The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine and the deregulation of broadcast media transformed news from a public service into a profit-driven entertainment industry. Broadcasters utilizing public airwaves and major cable networks reach millions of Americans daily and have a fundamental obligation to the public interest. The deliberate broadcast of demonstrably false information marketed as factual news is not protected free speech; it is a profound societal hazard.
How We Do It
- Reinstate broadcast accountability standards: requiring clear, on-screen labeling that unambiguously distinguishes opinion programming from factual, standards-based news reporting.
- Impose strict financial penalties: for the deliberate broadcast of demonstrably false information, utilizing the Federal Trade Commission's existing authority to regulate deceptive practices that harm the public.
- Fund national media literacy programs: in K-12 public education, ensuring the next generation is equipped to critically evaluate sources, recognize bias, and identify disinformation.
Net Neutrality
The internet is the public square of the modern age. It is where citizens access news, communicate with their government, conduct commerce, pursue education, and participate in public life. Allowing internet service providers to control, throttle, or monetize access to online content based on their own financial interests is fundamentally incompatible with a free and open democratic society. [292]
How We Do It
- Restore and permanently codify net neutrality through federal legislation, establishing the principle that all internet traffic shall be treated equally regardless of source, destination, or content. [293]
- Classify broadband internet as a public utility, subjecting it to the same regulatory framework as other essential public services. [294]
- Invest in expanding broadband access to underserved rural and low-income communities, ensuring that the benefits of a free and open internet are available to all Americans regardless of geography or income. [295]
Section 230 Reform & Platform Accountability
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act was written in 1996 for an internet that no longer exists. Today, social media platforms do not merely host content; their proprietary algorithms actively amplify disinformation, hate speech, and polarization because outrage drives engagement, and engagement drives revenue. The blanket liability shield protecting these companies must be updated for the algorithmic era.
How We Do It
- Reform Section 230: to remove broad liability shields from platforms when their algorithms actively amplify and promote harmful, violent, or demonstrably false content.
- Mandate algorithmic transparency: requiring major tech platforms to open their recommendation engines and data structures to independent researchers and federal regulators to assess societal impact.
- Implement a framework similar to the EU's Digital Services Act: requiring platforms to conduct mandatory risk assessments and take verifiable steps to mitigate the spread of coordinated disinformation campaigns.
Cybersecurity & Digital Infrastructure
America's digital infrastructure, from power grids and water systems to financial networks and government databases, represents both our greatest technological asset and one of our most significant vulnerabilities. Cyberattacks by foreign adversaries, criminal organizations, and state-sponsored actors pose a genuine threat to national security, economic stability, and democratic institutions. [299]
How We Do It
- Significantly increase federal investment in cybersecurity infrastructure across all critical sectors, including energy, water, financial systems, healthcare, and government networks. Establish and fully fund a National Cybersecurity Agency with the authority and resources to coordinate cybersecurity standards, incident response, and threat intelligence across public and private sectors. [300]
- Mandate minimum cybersecurity standards for all operators of critical infrastructure, with regular audits, mandatory breach reporting, and meaningful penalties for non-compliance. [301]
- Require social media platforms operating in the United States to implement robust measures against inauthentic accounts, bot networks, and coordinated inauthentic behavior. Platforms shall be required to disclose the origin of political advertising and to remove demonstrably false content that poses a threat to public safety or electoral integrity. [302]
- Designate foreign disinformation campaigns, including state-sponsored troll farms, bot networks, and coordinated influence operations, as national security threats. Empower intelligence and law enforcement agencies to identify, expose, and counter these operations. [303]
- Mandate paper ballot backups for all federal elections, regular security audits of election infrastructure, and federal funding for states to modernize and secure their election systems against both cyber and physical threats. [304]
Data Privacy & Big Tech Accountability
Americans generate enormous amounts of personal data every day, data that is collected, aggregated, sold, and exploited by technology companies with minimal regulation or consumer consent. The concentration of data and market power in a handful of technology giants poses risks not just to individual privacy but to competition, democracy, and national security. [305]
How We Do It
- Pass comprehensive federal data privacy legislation establishing clear rights for Americans over their personal data, including the right to know what data is collected, the right to correct inaccurate data, the right to delete personal data, and the right to opt out of data collection and sale. [306]
- Strengthen antitrust enforcement against big technology companies that use their market dominance to stifle competition, acquire potential rivals, and entrench their positions. [307]
- Regulate algorithmic systems that have significant impacts on public life, including content recommendation algorithms, hiring algorithms, and credit scoring systems, requiring transparency, regular auditing, and accountability for discriminatory or harmful outcomes. [308]
Artificial Intelligence, Deepfakes & Synthetic Disinformation
The rapid advancement of generative Artificial Intelligence poses an unprecedented threat to the concept of objective reality. Deepfakes, voice cloning, and synthetic media can be deployed to destroy personal reputations, manipulate financial markets, and disrupt democratic elections with virtually zero accountability. Innovation cannot come at the expense of reality.
How We Do It
- Pass the Deepfakes Accountability Act: requiring clear, unalterable digital watermarking and metadata tracking for all AI-generated audio, video, and imagery.
- Establish severe criminal penalties: for the creation and distribution of malicious synthetic media aimed at election interference, fraud, or non-consensual exploitation.
- Adopt the NIST AI Risk Management Framework: as a mandatory, enforceable baseline for all large language models and generative AI platforms operating at scale in the United States.
Artificial Intelligence Oversight
Artificial intelligence represents one of the most transformative and potentially disruptive technologies in human history. Its applications range from medicine and scientific research to surveillance, warfare, and the mass generation of disinformation. The United States must lead in establishing ethical, transparent, and accountable frameworks for AI development and deployment before the technology outpaces our ability to govern it. [312]
How We Do It
- Establish a federal AI oversight framework that requires transparency in the development and deployment of high-impact AI systems, including disclosure of training data, known limitations, and potential risks. [313]
- Prohibit the use of AI systems in high-stakes decisions, including criminal justice, hiring, lending, and healthcare, without human oversight, explainability, and meaningful avenues for appeal. [314]
- Regulate the use of AI-generated content in political advertising and news media, requiring clear disclosure when content is AI-generated and prohibiting the use of deepfakes and synthetic media for political manipulation. [315]
Intelligence Community Accountability & Oversight
The American intelligence community operates with extraordinary power and necessary secrecy to keep the nation safe. However, secrecy without rigorous oversight breeds abuse. The mass surveillance architectures revealed over the last decade demonstrate the persistent risk to the Fourth Amendment when intelligence agencies operate in the dark.
How We Do It
- Reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC): by introducing a permanent public advocate with security clearance to argue on behalf of civil liberties and constitutional rights in closed proceedings.
- Strengthen the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB): with expanded subpoena power and full independence to audit intelligence programs for domestic overreach.
- Strictly prohibit the warrantless collection or purchase: of American citizens' personal data, location data, and digital communications from commercial data brokers by federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Government Transparency & Accountability
Citizens have a right to know how their government operates, how their tax dollars are spent, and what decisions are being made in their name. Transparency is not just a democratic value; it is a practical check on corruption, abuse of power, and the kind of institutional rot that erodes public trust over time. [319]
How We Do It
- Strengthen and modernize the Freedom of Information Act, reducing response times, closing loopholes that allow agencies to withhold information, and establishing meaningful penalties for non-compliance. [320]
- Mandate full financial disclosure for all elected officials and senior government appointees, including blind trust requirements for investments that could represent conflicts of interest. [321]
- Protect and strengthen whistleblower protections for government employees and contractors who report waste, fraud, abuse, or illegal activity in good faith. [322]
Independence of Federal Scientific & Regulatory Agencies
Federal scientific and regulatory agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Federal Election Commission, were established to serve the public interest through the application of scientific expertise and independent professional judgment. Their effectiveness depends entirely on their insulation from political pressure. When agency decisions are driven by the political priorities of the administration in power rather than by evidence, professional standards, and the public interest, the consequences are measured in human lives, environmental damage, and the erosion of public trust in institutions that Americans depend on. [323]
How We Do It
- Establish a statutory framework for each major federal scientific and regulatory agency that designates it as operationally independent from White House direction on scientific findings, regulatory determinations, and public health communications. The political leadership of these agencies shall set broad priorities and budgets subject to congressional oversight, but shall not direct, alter, suppress, or delay scientific findings or regulatory decisions. [324]
- Reform the appointment process for the directors of the CDC, FDA, NIH, and EPA to require that nominees demonstrate verifiable scientific or public health credentials recognized by their professional peers. Nominees shall be evaluated by a confirmation panel that includes representatives of the relevant scientific and professional communities alongside Senate confirmation, ensuring that professional qualifications are assessed independently of political considerations. [325]
- Establish and enforce a government-wide scientific integrity policy with binding standards for the communication of scientific findings, explicit prohibitions on political interference in peer review processes, and meaningful whistleblower protections for scientists and researchers who report violations. Agency scientific integrity officers shall report to Congress independently of agency leadership. [326]
- Fund the CDC, FDA, NIH, and EPA at levels commensurate with their public health and environmental protection mandates, reversing the chronic underfunding that has forced these agencies to rely on industry funding and has compromised their independence. No federal regulatory agency shall accept industry funding for any aspect of its regulatory review function. [327]
National Science Board & Scientific Advisory Body Independence
The National Science Board, which governs the National Science Foundation and advises Congress and the president on science policy, is composed of distinguished scientists, engineers, and educators appointed to fixed six-year terms specifically to provide independent, nonpartisan scientific guidance. When members of the National Science Board are dismissed for political reasons, the foundational premise of evidence-based policymaking is undermined. The same principle applies to the scientific advisory boards of every federal agency: they exist to provide honest scientific counsel, and their value is destroyed the moment they become subject to political removal. [328]
How We Do It
- Pass legislation explicitly prohibiting the removal of National Science Board members, scientific advisory board members, and members of presidentially appointed scientific advisory committees except for cause, defined as documented failure to perform duties, ethical violations, or criminal conduct. Partisan political disagreement with a member's scientific findings shall not constitute cause for removal. [329]
- Establish statutory independence protections for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose climate, weather, and ocean data are essential to national security, disaster preparedness, agricultural planning, and environmental policy. NOAA's scientific findings shall not be subject to political review, alteration, or suppression by any executive branch official. The NOAA Administrator shall serve a fixed six-year term removable only for cause. [330]
- Strengthen the independence of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ensuring that its safety determinations and licensing decisions are based solely on technical and scientific criteria and are fully insulated from political or industry pressure. Establish similar independence protections for the National Transportation Safety Board, ensuring that accident investigations and safety recommendations are never subject to interference by the industries being investigated. [331]
- Reconstitute all dismissed or politically removed scientific advisory board members through an emergency reappointment process, and conduct a comprehensive audit of all federal scientific advisory committees to identify and remedy any politically motivated dismissals or restructurings that compromised the independence of scientific counsel to the federal government. [332]
Independence of Cultural, Humanities & Arts Institutions
American cultural and humanities institutions, including the Smithsonian Institution, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Library of Congress, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, represent the nation's collective investment in its cultural identity, historical memory, and creative life. These institutions derive their value precisely from their independence: their ability to preserve, present, and fund work that reflects the full complexity of the American experience without political interference or ideological direction from the administration in power. That independence is not guaranteed by statute and has been repeatedly tested by administrations of both parties. [333]
How We Do It
- Restructure the governance of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to remove the sitting president from its board of trustees, replacing the presidential seat with a position filled through a merit-based selection process by a panel of arts professionals, cultural leaders, and former Kennedy Center trustees. The nation's premier performing arts center must be governed by people whose primary commitment is to artistic excellence and public access, not political affiliation. [334]
- Codify the independence of the Smithsonian Institution through legislation that establishes clear protections against political interference in its curatorial decisions, exhibition content, research programs, and personnel decisions. The Smithsonian's Board of Regents shall include the Vice President and members of Congress as currently structured, but operational independence from political direction shall be explicitly protected by statute, with the Secretary of the Smithsonian serving a fixed term and removable only for cause. [335]
- Establish fixed, staggered terms for the Librarian of Congress, the Archivist of the United States, and the directors of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, with removal only for cause and with confirmation processes that emphasize professional qualifications over political alignment. These positions steward the nation's cultural and historical record and must be protected from use as tools of political patronage. [336]
- Restore and permanently fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting at levels sufficient to sustain genuinely independent public media, insulating it from the annual appropriations battles that make its funding a perennial political football. Establish a dedicated, multi-year funding mechanism for CPB that requires supermajority congressional approval to reduce, ensuring that public media cannot be defunded as a political act. [337]
Foreign Interference in American Elections & Democratic Processes
The intelligence community has consistently assessed, across multiple administrations and with high confidence, that foreign state actors including Russia, China, Iran, and others have conducted systematic campaigns to interfere with American elections, amplify social division, undermine confidence in democratic institutions, and influence American policy through disinformation and covert operations. These campaigns have grown more sophisticated and more pervasive with each election cycle, exploiting social media platforms, hacking operations, dark money channels, and relationships with American political actors to advance foreign interests at the expense of American democracy. Foreign interference in American elections is an attack on American sovereignty that demands a response equal to its seriousness. [338]
How We Do It
- Require mandatory disclosure of all contacts between federal candidates, campaigns, and senior government officials with representatives of foreign governments or foreign-controlled entities, with criminal penalties for failure to disclose. Establish a standing Foreign Election Interference Task Force within the FBI with dedicated resources and a mandate to investigate, disrupt, and publicly attribute foreign interference operations in real time rather than after the fact. [339]
- Establish binding platform requirements for social media companies to identify and remove foreign-controlled accounts and coordinated inauthentic behavior within defined timeframes, with civil penalties for failure to comply. Require that all political advertising on digital platforms disclose the true source of funding and prohibit the purchase of political advertising by any entity with foreign ownership or control. Declassify and publicly release assessments of foreign interference operations at the earliest point consistent with source and method protection. [340]
Dark Money & Political Finance Transparency
The corrupting influence of dark money, undisclosed and unlimited funds flowing into American politics through opaque nonprofit and corporate structures, represents one of the most serious threats to democratic integrity in the modern era. When billionaires, corporations, and foreign interests can pour unlimited money into political campaigns and issue advocacy without disclosure, the fundamental principle of government by the people is replaced by government by the highest bidder. [341]
How We Do It
- Pass comprehensive dark money disclosure legislation requiring that all political spending above a defined threshold, regardless of the organizational vehicle through which it is channeled, be publicly disclosed with full identification of the original funding source. [342]
- Close the 501(c)(4) and other nonprofit loopholes that currently allow unlimited undisclosed money to flow into political advertising and issue advocacy, establishing that any organization spending above a defined threshold on political activity must register as a political organization and comply with full disclosure requirements. [343]
- Require social media platforms to maintain publicly accessible, searchable databases of all political advertising, including the identity of the purchaser, the amount spent, the targeting parameters used, and the original funding source. [344]
Ending Regulatory Capture
Regulatory agencies exist to protect the American people from corporate abuse, environmental hazards, and unsafe products. When these agencies are captured by the very industries they are meant to regulate—through the revolving door of employment and the influence of industry-funded science—the public interest is sacrificed for private profit.
How We Do It
- Establish strict post-employment lobbying bans: mandating a minimum five-year cooling-off period before senior regulators can work for or lobby on behalf of the industries they previously oversaw.
- Prohibit federal agencies from basing regulatory decisions: on scientific studies that are solely funded by the industries being regulated. Mandate independent, peer-reviewed verification for all safety and environmental data.
- Strengthen whistleblower protections: for federal scientists, inspectors, and civil servants who expose regulatory capture, scientific manipulation, or political interference.
Corporate Whistleblower Protections
The public interest is served when individuals with knowledge of corporate wrongdoing, including fraud, environmental violations, consumer harm, financial manipulation, or other illegal activity, are able to report that wrongdoing without fear of personal or professional destruction. Yet corporate whistleblowers face enormous pressure, retaliation, and legal risk that deters the reporting of misconduct that harms millions of Americans. [348]
How We Do It
- Establish comprehensive federal whistleblower protection legislation covering all industries and sectors, providing clear, enforceable protections against retaliation for employees who report illegal activity, fraud, consumer harm, environmental violations, or other misconduct. [349]
- Establish a federal whistleblower reward program providing meaningful financial incentives for reporting corporate misconduct that leads to successful enforcement action, recognizing that the personal and professional risks of whistleblowing require commensurate incentives. [350]
The Local News Crisis & Public Interest Journalism
The collapse of local journalism has created "news deserts" across the country, leaving communities without independent watchdogs to cover local government, school boards, and courts. When local news dies, civic participation drops, polarization increases, municipal borrowing costs rise, and local corruption goes unchecked.
How We Do It
- Pass the Local Journalism Sustainability Act: providing targeted tax credits to incentivize local news subscriptions, support small business advertising in local media, and subsidize the hiring of local journalists.
- Allocate federal matching grants: for non-profit, cooperative, and community-owned newsrooms to stabilize the foundation of local reporting.
- Redirect a guaranteed percentage of federal advertising spending: exclusively to local, independent, and regional media outlets rather than national tech monopolies.
Press Freedom & Journalist Protections
A free press is the fourth estate of democracy: the institution that holds power accountable, exposes corruption, and ensures that citizens have the information they need to govern themselves. Yet journalists face growing threats, from government surveillance and prosecution of sources, to physical intimidation, strategic lawsuits designed to silence reporting, and the economic collapse of local news that has created vast information deserts across the country. [354]
How We Do It
- Pass a federal shield law providing journalists with strong protections against being compelled to reveal their sources, recognizing that the ability to protect sources is fundamental to the ability to report on government misconduct and other matters of public interest. [355]
- Strengthen legal protections against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation that powerful individuals and corporations use to silence journalists, establishing a federal anti-SLAPP statute with mandatory fee-shifting that makes frivolous suits financially untenable for plaintiffs. [356]
- Invest in local journalism through tax incentives for local news organizations, grants for nonprofit investigative journalism, and support for public interest reporting in communities that have lost local news coverage. [357]