II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5054 

To enhance transparency and accountability for online political advertisements 

by requiring those who purchase and publish such ads to disclose information about the advertisements to the public, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To enhance transparency and accountability for online political advertisements by requiring those who purchase and 

publish such ads to disclose information about the advertisements to the public, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honest Ads Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

6 The purpose of this subtitle is to enhance the integ7 rity of American democracy and national security by im8 proving disclosure requirements for online political adverVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:46 Oct 19, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5054.IS S5054

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1 tisements in order to uphold the Supreme Court’s well2 established standard that the electorate bears the right to 

3 be fully informed. 

4 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform 

7 Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–155) became law, es8 tablishing disclosure requirements for political adver9 tisements distributed from a television or radio 

10 broadcast station or provider of cable or satellite tel11 evision. In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld regula12 tions on electioneering communications established 

13 under the Act, noting that such requirements ‘‘pro14 vide the electorate with information and insure that 

15 the voters are fully informed about the person or 

16 group who is speaking’’. The Court reaffirmed this 

17 conclusion in 2010 by an 8–1 vote. 

18 (2) In its 2006 rulemaking, the Federal Elec19 tion Commission, the independent Federal agency 

20 charged with protecting the integrity of the Federal 

21 campaign finance process, noted that 18 percent of 

22 all Americans cited the internet as their leading 

23 source of news about the 2004 Presidential election. 

24 By contrast, Gallup and the Knight Foundation 

25 found in 2020 that the majority of Americans, 58 


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1 percent, got most of their news about elections on2 line. 

3 (3) According to a study from Borrell Associ4 ates, in 2016, $1,415,000,000 was spent on online 

5 advertising, more than quadruple the amount in 

6 2012. 

7 (4) Effective and complete transparency for vot8 ers must include information about the true and 

9 original source of money given, transferred, and 

10 spent on political advertisements made online. 

11 (5) Requiring the disclosure of this information 

12 is a necessary and narrowly tailored means to in13 form the voting public of who is behind digital ad14 vertising disseminated to influence their votes and to 

15 enable the Federal Election Commission and the De16 partment of Justice to detect and prosecute illegal 

17 foreign spending on local, State, and Federal elec18 tions and other campaign finance violations. 

19 (6) Paid advertising on large online platforms is 

20 different from advertising placed on other common 

21 media in terms of the comparatively low cost of 

22 reaching large numbers of people, the availability of 

23 sophisticated microtargeting, and the ease with 

24 which online advertisers, particularly those located 

25 outside the United States, can evade disclosure reVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:46 Oct 19, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5054.IS S5054

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1 quirements. Requiring large online platforms to 

2 maintain public files of information about the online 

3 political ads they disseminate is the best and least 

4 restrictive means to ensure the voting public has 

5 complete information about who is trying to influ6 ence their votes and to aid enforcement of other 

7 laws, including the prohibition on foreign money in 

8 domestic campaigns. 

9 (7) The reach of a few large internet plat10 forms—larger than any broadcast, satellite, or cable 

11 provider—has greatly facilitated the scope and effec12 tiveness of disinformation campaigns. For instance, 

13 the largest platform has over 210,000,000 American 

14 users—over 160,000,000 of them on a daily basis. 

15 By contrast, the largest cable television provider has 

16 22,430,000 subscribers, while the largest satellite 

17 television provider has 21,000,000 subscribers, and 

18 the most-watched television broadcast in United 

19 States history had 118,000,000 viewers. 

20 (8) The public nature of broadcast television, 

21 radio, and satellite ensures a level of publicity for 

22 any political advertisement. These communications 

23 are accessible to the press, fact-checkers, and polit24 ical opponents. This creates strong disincentives for 

25 a candidate to disseminate materially false, inflamVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:46 Oct 19, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5054.IS S5054

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1 matory, or contradictory messages to the public. So2 cial media platforms, in contrast, can target portions 

3 of the electorate with direct, ephemeral advertise4 ments often on the basis of private information the 

5 platform has on individuals, enabling political adver6 tisements that are contradictory, racially or socially 

7 inflammatory, or materially false. 

8 (9) According to comscore, 2 companies own 8 

9 of the 10 most popular smart phone applications as 

10 of June 2017, including the most popular social 

11 media and email services which deliver information 

12 and news to users without requiring proactivity by 

13 the user. Those same 2 companies accounted for 99 

14 percent of revenue growth from digital advertising in 

15 2016, including 77 percent of gross spending. 79 

16 percent of online Americans—representing 68 per17 cent of all Americans—use the single largest social 

18 network, while 66 percent of these users are most 

19 likely to get their news from that site. 

20 (10) Large social media platforms are the only 

21 entities in possession of certain key data related to 

22 paid online ads, including the exact audience tar23 geted by those ads and their number of impressions. 

24 Such information, which cannot be reliably disclosed 

25 by the purchasers of ads, is extremely useful for inVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:46 Oct 19, 2022 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5054.IS S5054

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1 forming the electorate, guarding against corruption, 

2 and aiding in the enforcement of existing campaign 

3 finance regulations. 

4 (11) Paid advertisements on social media plat5 forms have served as critical tools for foreign online 

6 influence campaigns—even those that rely on large 

7 amounts of unpaid content—because such ads allow 

8 foreign actors to test the effectiveness of different 

9 messages, expose their messages to audiences who 

10 have not sought out such content, and recruit audi11 ences for future campaigns and posts. 

12 (12) In testimony before the Senate Select 

13 Committee on Intelligence titled, ‘‘Disinformation: A 

14 Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence 

15 Campaigns’’, multiple expert witnesses testified that 

16 while the disinformation tactics of foreign adver17 saries have not necessarily changed, social media 

18 services now provide ‘‘platform[s] practically pur19 pose-built for active measures[.]’’. Similarly, as Gen. 

20 Keith B. Alexander (RET.), the former Director of 

21 the National Security Agency, testified, during the 

22 Cold War ‘‘if the Soviet Union sought to manipulate 

23 information flow, it would have to do so principally 

24 through its own propaganda outlets or through ac25 tive measures that would generate specific news: 


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1 planting of leaflets, inciting of violence, creation of 

2 other false materials and narratives. But the news 

3 itself was hard to manipulate because it would have 

4 required actual control of the organs of media, which 

5 took long-term efforts to penetrate. Today, however, 

6 because the clear majority of the information on so7 cial media sites is uncurated and there is a rapid 

8 proliferation of information sources and other sites 

9 that can reinforce information, there is an increasing 

10 likelihood that the information available to average 

11 consumers may be inaccurate (whether intentionally 

12 or otherwise) and may be more easily manipulable 

13 than in prior eras.’’. 

14 (13) On November 24, 2016, The Washington 

15 Post reported findings from 2 teams of independent 

16 researchers that concluded Russians ‘‘exploited 

17 American-made technology platforms to attack U.S. 

18 democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment * * 

19 * as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing 

20 distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders.’’. 

21 (14) On January 6, 2017, the Office of the Di22 rector of National Intelligence published a report ti23 tled ‘‘Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in 

24 Recent U.S. Elections’’, noting that ‘‘Russian Presi25 dent Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign 


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1 in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election * * 

2 *’’. Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Russian 

3 messaging strategy that blends covert intelligence 

4 operation—such as cyber activity—with overt efforts 

5 by Russian Government agencies, state-funded 

6 media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social 

7 media users or ‘‘trolls’’. 

8 (15) On September 6, 2017, the nation’s larg9 est social media platform disclosed that between 

10 June 2015 and May 2017, Russian entities pur11 chased $100,000 in political advertisements, pub12 lishing roughly 3,000 ads linked to fake accounts as13 sociated with the Internet Research Agency, a pro14 Kremlin organization. According to the company, 

15 the ads purchased focused ‘‘on amplifying divisive 

16 social and political messages * * *’’. 

17 (16) Findings from a 2017 study on the manip18 ulation of public opinion through social media con19 ducted by the Computational Propaganda Research 

20 Project at the Oxford Internet Institute found that 

21 the Kremlin is using pro-Russian bots to manipulate 

22 public discourse to a highly targeted audience. With 

23 a sample of nearly 1,300,000 tweets, researchers 

24 found that in the 2016 election’s 3 decisive States, 

25 propaganda constituted 40 percent of the sampled 


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1 election-related tweets that went to Pennsylvanians, 

2 34 percent to Michigan voters, and 30 percent to 

3 those in Wisconsin. In other swing States, the figure 

4 reached 42 percent in Missouri, 41 percent in Flor5 ida, 40 percent in North Carolina, 38 percent in 

6 Colorado, and 35 percent in Ohio. 

7 (17) 2018 reporting by the Washington Post 

8 estimated that paid Russian ads received more than 

9 37,000,000 impressions in 2016 and 2017. 

10 (18) A 2019 Senate Select Committee on 

11 Intelligence’s Report on Russian Active Measures 

12 Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elec13 tion Volume 2: Russia’s Use of Social Media with 

14 Additional Views, the Committee recommended 

15 ‘‘that Congress examine legislative approaches to en16 suring Americans know the sources of online polit17 ical advertisements. The Federal Election Campaign 

18 Act of 1971 requires political advertisements on tele19 vision, radio and satellite to disclose the sponsor of 

20 the advertisement. The same requirements should 

21 apply online. This will also help to ensure that the 

22 IRA or any similarly situated actors cannot use paid 

23 advertisements for purposes of foreign inter24 ference.’’. 


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1 (19) A 2020 study by researchers at New York 

2 University found undisclosed political advertisement 

3 purchases on a large social media platform by a Chi4 nese state media company in violation of that plat5 form’s supposed prohibitions on foreign spending on 

6 ads of social, national, or electoral importance. 

7 (20) The same study also found that ‘‘there are 

8 persistent issues with advertisers failing to disclose 

9 political ads’’ and that in one social media plat10 form’s political ad archive, 68,879 pages (54.6 per11 cent of pages with political ads included in the ar12 chive) never provided a disclosure. Overall, there 

13 were 357,099 ads run on that platforms without a 

14 disclosure, accounting for at least $37,000,000 in 

15 spending on political ads. 

16 (21) A 2020 report by the bipartisan and bi17 cameral U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission 

18 found that ‘‘Although foreign nationals are banned 

19 from contributing to U.S. political campaigns, they 

20 are still allowed to purchase U.S. political advertise21 ments online, making the internet a fertile environ22 ment for conducting a malign influence campaign to 

23 undermine American elections.’’. The Commission 

24 concluded that Russian interference in the 2016 

25 election was and still is possible, ‘‘because the 


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1 FECA, which establishes rules for transparency in 

2 television, radio, and print media political adver3 tising, has not been amended to extend the same po4 litical advertising requirements to internet plat5 forms,’’ and that ‘‘[a]pplying these standards across 

6 all media of communication would, among other 

7 things, increase transparency of funding for political 

8 advertisements, which would in turn strengthen reg9 ulators’ ability to reduce improper foreign influence 

10 in our elections’’. 

11 (22) On March 16, 2021, the Office of the Di12 rector of National Intelligence released the declas13 sified Intelligence Community assessment of foreign 

14 threats to the 2020 U.S. Federal elections. The de15 classified report found: ‘‘Throughout the election 

16 cycle, Russia’s online influence actors sought to af17 fect U.S. public perceptions of the candidates, as 

18 well as advance Moscow’s longstanding goals of un19 dermining confidence in U.S. election processes and 

20 increasing sociopolitical divisions among the Amer21 ican people.’’. The report also determined that Iran 

22 sought to influence the election by ‘‘creating and 

23 amplifying social media content that criticized [can24 didates]’’. 


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1 (23) According to a Wall Street Journal report 

2 in April 2021, voluntary ad libraries operated by 

3 major platforms rely on foreign governments to self4 report political ad purchases. These ad-buys, includ5 ing those diminishing major human rights violations 

6 like the Uighur genocide, are under-reported by for7 eign government purchasers, with no substantial 

8 oversight or repercussions from the platforms. 

9 (24) Multiple reports have indicated that online 

10 ads have become a key vector for strategic influence 

11 by the People’s Republic of China. An April 2021 

12 Wall Street Journal report noted that the Chinese 

13 Government and Chinese state-owned enterprises are 

14 major purchasers of ads on the U.S.’s largest social 

15 media platform, including to advance Chinese propa16 ganda. 

17 (25) Large online platforms have made changes 

18 to their policies intended to make it harder for for19 eign actors to purchase political ads. However, these 

20 private actions have not been taken by all platforms, 

21 have not been reliably enforced, and are subject to 

22 immediate change at the discretion of the platforms. 

23 (26) The Federal Election Commission has 

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1 vertisements do not provide sufficient transparency 

2 to uphold the public’s right to be fully informed 

3 about political advertisements made online. 

4 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that— 

6 (1) the dramatic increase in digital political ad7 vertisements, and the growing centrality of online 

8 platforms in the lives of Americans, requires the 

9 Congress and the Federal Election Commission to 

10 take meaningful action to ensure that laws and reg11 ulations provide the accountability and transparency 

12 that is fundamental to our democracy; 

13 (2) free and fair elections require both trans14 parency and accountability which give the public a 

15 right to know the true sources of funding for polit16 ical advertisements, be they foreign or domestic, in 

17 order to make informed political choices and hold 

18 elected officials accountable; and 

19 (3) transparency of funding for political adver20 tisements is essential to enforce other campaign fi21 nance laws, including the prohibition on campaign 

22 spending by foreign nationals. 


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1 SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF PUBLIC COMMU2 NICATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (22) of section 301 of 

4 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 

5 30101(22)) is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite commu6 nication’’ and inserting ‘‘satellite, paid internet, or paid 

7 digital communication’’. 

8 (b) TREATMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI9 TURES.—Section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30101) is 

10 amended— 

11 (1) in paragraph (8)(B)(v), by striking ‘‘on 

12 broadcasting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 

13 or similar types of general public political adver14 tising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public communica15 tion’’; and 

16 (2) in paragraph (9)(B)— 

17 (A) by amending clause (i) to read as fol18 lows: 

19 ‘‘(i) any news story, commentary, or 

20 editorial distributed through the facilities 

21 of any broadcasting station or any print, 

22 online, or digital newspaper, magazine, 

23 blog, publication, or periodical, unless such 

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1 ical party, political committee, or can2 didate;’’; and 

3 (B) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘on broad4 casting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 

5 or similar types of general public political ad6 vertising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public commu7 nication’’. 

8 (c) DISCLOSURE AND DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS.— 

9 Subsection (a) of section 318 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

10 30120) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking ‘‘financing any communication 

12 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga13 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

14 other type of general public political advertising’’ 

15 and inserting ‘‘financing any public communication’’; 

16 and 

17 (2) by striking ‘‘solicits any contribution 

18 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga19 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

20 other type of general public political advertising’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘solicits any contribution through any 

22 public communication’’. 

23 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

24 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

25 of this Act and shall take effect without regard to whether 


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1 or not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 

2 the final regulations necessary to carry out this part and 

3 the amendments made by this part by the deadline set 

4 forth in subsection (e). 

5 (e) REGULATION.—Not later than 1 year after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election 

7 Commission shall promulgate regulations on what con8 stitutes a paid internet or paid digital communication for 

9 purposes of paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal 

10 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(22)), 

11 as amended by subsection (a), except that such regulation 

12 shall not define a paid internet or paid digital communica13 tion to include communications for which the only pay14 ment consists of internal resources, such as employee com15 pensation, of the entity paying for the communication. 

16 SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ELECTIONEERING 

17 COMMUNICATION. 

18 (a) EXPANSION TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.— 

19 (1) APPLICATION TO QUALIFIED INTERNET AND

20 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of 

22 section 304(f)(3) of the Federal Election Cam23 paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)(3)(A)) 

24 is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite communica25 tion’’ each place it appears in clauses (i) and 


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1 (ii) and inserting ‘‘satellite, or qualified internet 

2 or digital communication’’. 

3 (B) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL

4 COMMUNICATION.—Paragraph (3) of section 

5 304(f) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)) is 

6 amended by adding at the end the following 

7 new subparagraph: 

8 ‘‘(D) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL

9 COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘qualified internet 

10 or digital communication’ means any commu11 nication which is placed or promoted for a fee 

12 on an online platform (as defined in subsection 

13 (j)(3)).’’. 

14 (2) NONAPPLICATION OF RELEVANT ELEC15 TORATE TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 

16 304(f)(3)(A)(i)(III) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

17 30104(f)(3)(A)(i)(III)) is amended by inserting ‘‘any 

18 broadcast, cable, or satellite’’ before ‘‘communica19 tion’’. 

20 (3) NEWS EXEMPTION.—Section 

21 304(f)(3)(B)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

22 30104(f)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(i) a communication appearing in a 

24 news story, commentary, or editorial dis25 tributed through the facilities of any 


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1 broadcasting station or any online or dig2 ital newspaper, magazine, blog, publica3 tion, or periodical, unless such broad4 casting, online, or digital facilities are 

5 owned or controlled by any political party, 

6 political committee, or candidate;’’. 

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

8 this section shall apply with respect to communications 

9 made on or after January 1, 2023, and shall take effect 

10 without regard to whether or not the Federal Election 

11 Commission has promulgated regulations to carry out 

12 such amendments. 

13 SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS TO ON14 LINE COMMUNICATIONS. 

15 (a) CLEAR AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER REQUIRE16 MENT.—Subsection (a) of section 318 of the Federal Elec17 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30120(a)) is 

18 amended— 

19 (1) by striking ‘‘shall clearly state’’ each place 

20 it appears in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and in21 serting ‘‘shall state in a clear and conspicuous man22 ner’’; and 

23 (2) by adding at the end the following flush 

24 sentence: ‘‘For purposes of this section, a commu25 nication does not make a statement in a clear and 


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1 conspicuous manner if it is difficult to read or hear 

2 or if the placement is easily overlooked.’’. 

3 (b) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR

4 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 318 of such Act (52 

6 U.S.C. 30120) is amended by adding at the end the 

7 following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR

9 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULES WITH RESPECT TO STATE11 MENTS.—In the case of any qualified internet or 

12 digital communication (as defined in section 

13 304(f)(3)(D)) which is disseminated through a me14 dium in which the provision of all of the information 

15 specified in this section is not possible, the commu16 nication shall, in a clear and conspicuous manner— 

17 ‘‘(A) state the name of the person who 

18 paid for the communication; and 

19 ‘‘(B) provide a means for the recipient of 

20 the communication to obtain the remainder of 

21 the information required under this section with 

22 minimal effort and without receiving or viewing 

23 any additional material other than such re24 quired information. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SAFE HARBOR FOR DETERMINING CLEAR

2 AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER.—A statement in quali3 fied internet or digital communication (as defined in 

4 section 304(f)(3)(D)) shall be considered to be made 

5 in a clear and conspicuous manner as provided in 

6 subsection (a) if the communication meets the fol7 lowing requirements: 

8 ‘‘(A) TEXT OR GRAPHIC COMMUNICA9 TIONS.—In the case of a text or graphic com10 munication, the statement— 

11 ‘‘(i) appears in letters at least as large 

12 as the majority of the text in the commu13 nication; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) meets the requirements of para15 graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c). 

16 ‘‘(B) AUDIO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 

17 case of an audio communication, the statement 

18 is spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible 

19 manner at the beginning or end of the commu20 nication and lasts at least 3 seconds. 

21 ‘‘(C) VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 

22 case of a video communication which also in23 cludes audio, the statement— 

24 ‘‘(i) is included at either the beginning 

25 or the end of the communication; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) is made both in— 

2 ‘‘(I) a written format that meets 

3 the requirements of subparagraph (A) 

4 and appears for at least 4 seconds; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(II) an audible format that 

7 meets the requirements of subpara8 graph (B). 

9 ‘‘(D) OTHER COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 

10 case of any other type of communication, the 

11 statement is at least as clear and conspicuous 

12 as the statement specified in subparagraph (A), 

13 (B), or (C).’’. 

14 (2) NONAPPLICATION OF CERTAIN EXCEP15 TIONS.—The exceptions provided in section 

16 110.11(f)(1)(i) and (ii) of title 11, Code of Federal 

17 Regulations, or any successor to such rules, shall 

18 have no application to qualified internet or digital 

19 communications (as defined in section 304(f)(3)(D) 

20 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971). 

21 (c) MODIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

22 FOR CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318(d) of such 

23 Act (52 U.S.C. 30120(d)) is amended— 

24 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 

2 through radio’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in an 

3 audio format’’; and 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘BY RADIO’’ in the heading 

5 and inserting ‘‘AUDIO FORMAT’’; 

6 (2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 

8 through television’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in 

9 video format’’; and 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘BY TELEVISION’’ in the 

11 heading and inserting ‘‘VIDEO FORMAT’’; and 

12 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘transmitted through radio 

14 or television’’ and inserting ‘‘made in audio or 

15 video format’’; and 

16 (B) by striking ‘‘through television’’ in the 

17 second sentence and inserting ‘‘in video for18 mat’’. 

19 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

20 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact21 ment of this Act and shall take effect without regard to 

22 whether or not the Federal Election Commission has pro23 mulgated regulations to carry out such amendments. 


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1 SEC. 8. POLITICAL RECORD REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE 

2 PLATFORMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal Elec4 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

6 ‘‘(j) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN ONLINE ADVERTISE7 MENTS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

9 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE PLAT10 FORMS.— 

11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An online plat12 form shall maintain, and make available 

13 for online public inspection in machine 

14 readable format, a complete record of any 

15 request to purchase on such online plat16 form a qualified political advertisement 

17 which is made by a person whose aggre18 gate requests to purchase qualified political 

19 advertisements on such online platform 

20 during the calendar year exceeds $500. 

21 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT RELATING TO PO22 LITICAL ADS SOLD BY THIRD-PARTY AD23 VERTISING VENDORS.—An online platform 

24 that displays a qualified political advertise25 ment sold by a third-party advertising ven26 dor as defined in (3)(C), shall include on 


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1 its own platform an easily accessible and 

2 identifiable link to the records maintained 

3 by the third-party advertising vendor under 

4 clause (i) regarding such qualified political 

5 advertisement. 

6 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR ADVER7 TISERS.—Any person who requests to purchase 

8 a qualified political advertisement on an online 

9 platform shall provide the online platform with 

10 such information as is necessary for the online 

11 platform to comply with the requirements of 

12 subparagraph (A). 

13 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORD.—A record main14 tained under paragraph (1)(A) shall contain— 

15 ‘‘(A) a digital copy of the qualified political 

16 advertisement; 

17 ‘‘(B) a description of the audience targeted 

18 by the advertisement, the number of views gen19 erated from the advertisement, and the date 

20 and time that the advertisement is first dis21 played and last displayed; and 

22 ‘‘(C) information regarding— 

23 ‘‘(i) the total cost of the advertise24 ment; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the name of the candidate to 

2 which the advertisement refers and the of3 fice to which the candidate is seeking elec4 tion, the election to which the advertise5 ment refers, or the national legislative 

6 issue to which the advertisement refers (as 

7 applicable); 

8 ‘‘(iii) in the case of a request made 

9 by, or on behalf of, a candidate, the name 

10 of the candidate, the authorized committee 

11 of the candidate, and the treasurer of such 

12 committee; and 

13 ‘‘(iv) in the case of any request not 

14 described in clause (iii), the name of the 

15 person purchasing the advertisement, the 

16 name and address of a contact person for 

17 such person, and a list of the chief execu18 tive officers or members of the executive 

19 committee or of the board of directors of 

20 such person. 

21 ‘‘(3) ONLINE PLATFORM.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 

23 subsection, subject to subparagraph (B), the 

24 term ‘online platform’ means any public-facing 

25 website, web application, or digital application 


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1 (including a social network, ad network, or 

2 search engine) which— 

3 ‘‘(i)(I) sells qualified political adver4 tisements; and 

5 ‘‘(II) has 50,000,000 or more unique 

6 monthly United States visitors or users for 

7 a majority of months during the preceding 

8 12 months; or 

9 ‘‘(ii) is a third-party advertising ven10 dor that has 50,000,000 or more unique 

11 monthly United States visitors in the ag12 gregate on any advertisement space that it 

13 has sold or bought for a majority of 

14 months during the preceding 12 months, 

15 as measured by an independent digital rat16 ings service accredited by the Media Rat17 ings Council (or its successor). 

18 ‘‘(B) EXEMPTION.—Such term shall not 

19 include any online platform that is a distribu20 tion facility of any broadcasting station or 

21 newspaper, magazine, blog, publication, or peri22 odical. 

23 ‘‘(C) THIRD-PARTY ADVERTISING VENDOR

24 DEFINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the 

25 term ‘third-party advertising vendor’ includes, 


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1 but is not limited to, any third-party adver2 tising vendor network, advertising agency, ad3 vertiser, or third-party advertisement serving 

4 company that buys and sells advertisement 

5 space on behalf of unaffiliated third-party 

6 websites, search engines, digital applications, or 

7 social media sites. 

8 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.— 

9 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘qualified 

10 political advertisement’ means any advertisement 

11 (including search engine marketing, display adver12 tisements, video advertisements, native advertise13 ments, and sponsorships) that— 

14 ‘‘(A) is made by or on behalf of a can15 didate; or 

16 ‘‘(B) communicates a message relating to 

17 any political matter of national importance, in18 cluding— 

19 ‘‘(i) a candidate; 

20 ‘‘(ii) any election to Federal office; or 

21 ‘‘(iii) a national legislative issue of 

22 public importance. 

23 ‘‘(5) TIME TO MAINTAIN FILE.—The informa24 tion required under this subsection shall be made 

25 available as soon as possible and shall be retained by 


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1 the online platform for a period of not less than 4 

2 years. 

3 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULE.—For purposes of this sub4 section, multiple versions of an advertisement that 

5 contain no material differences (such as versions 

6 that differ only because they contain a recipient’s 

7 name, or differ only in size, color, font, or layout) 

8 may be treated as a single qualified political adver9 tisement. 

10 ‘‘(7) PENALTIES.—For penalties for failure by 

11 online platforms, and persons requesting to purchase 

12 a qualified political advertisement on online plat13 forms, to comply with the requirements of this sub14 section, see section 309.’’. 

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

17 of this Act and shall take effect without regard to whether 

18 or not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 

19 the final regulations necessary to carry out this part and 

20 the amendments made by this part by the deadline set 

21 forth in subsection (c). 

22 (c) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 120 days after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election 

24 Commission shall establish rules— 


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1 (1) requiring common data formats for the 

2 record required to be maintained under section 

3 304(j) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

4 1971 (as added by subsection (a)) so that all online 

5 platforms submit and maintain data online in a com6 mon, machine-readable and publicly accessible for7 mat; and 

8 (2) establishing search interface requirements 

9 relating to such record, including searches by can10 didate name, issue, purchaser, and date. 

11 (d) REPORTING.—Not later than 2 years after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, and biannually there13 after, the Chairman of the Federal Election Commission 

14 shall submit a report to Congress on— 

15 (1) matters relating to compliance with and the 

16 enforcement of the requirements of section 304(j) of 

17 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 

18 added by subsection (a); 

19 (2) recommendations for any modifications to 

20 such section to assist in carrying out its purposes; 

21 and 

22 (3) identifying ways to bring transparency and 

23 accountability to political advertisements distributed 

24 online for free. 


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1 SEC. 9. PREVENTING CONTRIBUTIONS, EXPENDITURES, 

2 INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES, AND DIS3 BURSEMENTS FOR ELECTIONEERING COM4 MUNICATIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN 

5 THE FORM OF ONLINE ADVERTISING. 

6 Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

7 of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121) is amended by adding at the 

8 end the following new subsection: 

9 ‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF BROADCAST STATIONS, 

10 PROVIDERS OF CABLE AND SATELLITE TELEVISION, AND

11 ONLINE PLATFORMS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each television or radio 

13 broadcast station, provider of cable or satellite tele14 vision, or online platform (as defined in section 

15 304(j)(3)) shall make reasonable efforts to ensure 

16 that communications described in section 318(a) and 

17 made available by such station, provider, or platform 

18 are not purchased by a foreign national, directly or 

19 indirectly. 

20 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year 

21 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

22 the Commission shall promulgate regulations on 

23 what constitutes reasonable efforts under paragraph 

24 (1).’’. 


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1 SEC. 10. REQUIRING ONLINE PLATFORMS TO DISPLAY NO2 TICES IDENTIFYING SPONSORS OF POLIT3 ICAL ADVERTISEMENTS AND TO ENSURE NO4 TICES CONTINUE TO BE PRESENT WHEN AD5 VERTISEMENTS ARE SHARED. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal Elec7 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104), as amend8 ed by section 8(a), is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(k) ENSURING DISPLAY AND SHARING OF SPONSOR

11 IDENTIFICATION IN ONLINE POLITICAL ADVERTISE12 MENTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—An online platform dis14 playing a qualified political advertisement shall— 

15 ‘‘(A) display with the advertisement a visi16 ble notice identifying the sponsor of the adver17 tisement (or, if it is not practical for the plat18 form to display such a notice, a notice that the 

19 advertisement is sponsored by a person other 

20 than the platform); and 

21 ‘‘(B) ensure that the notice will continue to 

22 be displayed if a viewer of the advertisement 

23 shares the advertisement with others on that 

24 platform. 

25 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the term ‘online platform’ has the 

2 meaning given such term in subsection (j)(3); 

3 and 

4 ‘‘(B) the term ‘‘qualified political adver5 tisement’ has the meaning given such term in 

6 subsection (j)(4).’’. 

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

8 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

9 of this Act without regard to whether or not the Federal 

10 Election Commission has promulgated regulations to carry 

11 out such amendment. 

Æ 


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