Hillary Clinton suggests civil or criminal penalties for Americans who spread foreign misinformation

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, suggested that Americans who share political misinformation should face civil or criminal charges, depending on the case.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow interviewed Clinton and asked her if the U.S. government is taking foreign governments' attempts to spread misinformation or propaganda in the U.S. “seriously enough” or if more needs to be done.

"I think there's a far distance to go," Clinton said. "I applaud the actions taken by the Justice Department and the State Department. I think that they’re very important. But truly, we are just at the beginning of uncovering everything that Russia, but not just Russia, other countries, have done and are doing to influence our election."

The Justice Department recently indicted two Russia Today employees who provided funding to an American media company to advance Russian interests in the U.S.

“I also think there are Americans who are engaged in this kind of propaganda, and whether they should be civilly, or even in some cases criminally charged, is something that would be a better deterrence,” Clinton said. “Because the Russians are unlikely, except in a very few cases, to ever stand trial in the United States.”