Prompted by the widespread Russian influence campaign that targeted nearly two dozen states during the 2016 presidential election and the proliferation of secretive political advertising on social media platforms like Facebook, Cuomo proposed and the state Legislature successfully passed the «Democracy
Protection Act,» which prohibits foreign
entities from creating
independent expenditure committees or buying political ads, requires anyone who purchases an online political ad to register
as an
independent expenditure committee, and also requires online ads to include information about who paid for them,
as is currently required of traditional media platforms.