Foreign nationals have no right to impersonate Americans to interfere in elections
Alexandria, VA – The Institute for Free Speech released the following statement today on the indictments of 13 Russian nationals on charges of interfering in the 2016 presidential election:
“As an organization dedicated to defending and advancing Americans’ First Amendment political speech rights, we applaud and support the investigation and prosecution of foreign nationals who impersonate Americans to interfere in U.S. elections. The Mueller indictments paint the picture of a wide-ranging conspiracy to steal American identities and commit fraud in order to sow distrust in American politics. These illegal actions are best policed through the Foreign Agents Registration Act and other existing laws.”
“The information contained in the indictments shows that the political messages these foreign nationals promoted were not carefully crafted to abide by campaign finance laws. Rather, they brazenly violated multiple campaign finance laws already on the books, including prohibitions on expenditures by foreign citizens, disclaimer rules, and mandatory reporting requirements. This supports the Institute’s position that proposals to respond to foreign interference with broad-based restrictions on American online issue speech, such as the “Honest Ads Act,” miss the mark. Nothing in the “Honest Ads Act” would have made these violations more readily detectable.”
“These indictments show we can protect American political speech rights and prevent foreign interference in elections at the same time.”
About the Institute for Free Speech
The Institute for Free Speech is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes and defends the First Amendment rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government. Originally known as the Center for Competitive Politics, it was founded in 2005 by Bradley A. Smith, a former Chairman of the Federal Election Commission. The Institute is the nation’s largest organization dedicated solely to protecting First Amendment political rights.
