Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) is introducing legislation that would require influencers to disclose payments made by foreign governments, deeming the influencer world the “wild west.”
“There is a big difference between having an organic opinion and secretly acting on behalf of foreign interests to push propaganda to Americans,” the Florida lawmaker said on social media, noting that foreign adversaries have been “actively using disinformation and psychological operations to divide America, erode our national security, and undermine U.S. foreign policy.”
“Americans deserve to know when the voices shaping what they see online are working on behalf of foreign interests,” she added.
Her measure is called the Foreign Propaganda Registration Act, serving as an amendment to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
FARA “requires certain agents of foreign principals who are engaged in political activities or other activities specified under the statute to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
Politico’s Playbook goes into further details, quoting Luna as saying, “Being an influencer right now is kind of like the wild west. There’s a lot of things laws haven’t caught up to.”
She reportedly spoke with government agencies and “heard about payments occurring ‘on the back end’ from people inside the influencer world,” per the outlet, asserting she has a “number” of people she was aware of who may be receiving foreign dollars. She asserted that some of the “biggest profile names” have, at one point, been approached to push a certain position connected to a foreign country.
“I’ve seen contracts into the millions,” Luna revealed.
Per Politico:
The fight ballooned in recent months inside MAGA, where the sprawling influencer ecosystem that fueled Trump’s political rise faces growing accusations within its own ranks that foreign governments and other well-funded interests are trying to manipulate it. Allegations have been leveled against influencers targeting JD Vance, Tucker Carlson and recently that Laura Loomer’s trip to Ukraine was funded by the country — which she vehemently denied.
Luna said during an interview with Politico that she has been part of various briefings and has seen the amount of “bot farm activity.”
“They’ll do a massive purge, and then literally the dynamics of the conversation changes,” she noted. “You realize that although we are unique in the sense that we have the you know First Amendment and free speech here, it’s naive to think that other countries aren’t going to use that against us, and they do,” she explained.
“And as you’re seeing right now in politics, you know, even back when I was you know in high school, I don’t remember it being so nasty and divided as it is today. And if you’re looking at these various organizations, how they operate, the funding mechanisms in which some of these foreign actors will use to kind of, I guess, watch the money, and then ultimately how influencers have really replaced legacy media as trusted resources that individuals will look to to get their information and news,” she said, calling for Congress to take this into account and update laws.
“I will say, you know, being a millennial, being a younger millennial in that sense, and seeing really how Gen Z, my generation, operates and looks to some of these influencers for information was a factor in that,” she said. “But again, Congress has kind of slowed — slowed to you know keep up times of Google, and so when I actually brought this to discussions with members of the conference, with leadership, also to Democrats, they realize that it’s time that we act, and so hence the bill.
She believes Republican leadership will support her proposal, and it shares backing from Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), as well as Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).
