II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 486 

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 

FEBRUARY 16, 2023 

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 23:18 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S486.IS S486

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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 studies from AdImpact and 

4 Borrell Associates, in 2020, an estimated 

5 $1,700,000,000 was spent on online political adver6 tising, more than 10 times the amount spent in 

7 2012. 

8 (4) In order to enhance transparency of all po9 litical advertisement funding, it is prudent to extend 

10 to online internet platforms the same types of polit11 ical advertisement disclosure requirements applicable 

12 to broadcast television and radio stations, and pro13 viders of cable and satellite television. 

14 (5) Effective and complete transparency for vot15 ers must include information about the true and 

16 original source of money given, transferred, and 

17 spent on political advertisements made online. 

18 (6) Requiring the disclosure of this information 

19 is a necessary and narrowly tailored means to in20 form the voting public of who is behind digital ad21 vertising disseminated to influence their votes and to 

22 enable the Federal Election Commission and the De23 partment of Justice to detect and prosecute illegal 

24 foreign spending on local, State, and Federal elec25 tions and other campaign finance violations. 


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1 (7) Paid advertising on large online platforms is 

2 different from advertising placed on other common 

3 media in terms of the comparatively low cost of 

4 reaching large numbers of people, the availability of 

5 sophisticated microtargeting, and the ease with 

6 which online advertisers, particularly those located 

7 outside the United States, can evade disclosure re8 quirements. Requiring large online platforms to 

9 maintain public files of information about the online 

10 political ads they disseminate is the best and least 

11 restrictive means to ensure the voting public has 

12 complete information about who is trying to influ13 ence their votes and to aid enforcement of other 

14 laws, including the prohibition on foreign money in 

15 domestic campaigns. 

16 (8) The reach of a few large internet plat17 forms—larger than any broadcast, satellite, or cable 

18 provider—has greatly facilitated the scope and effec19 tiveness of disinformation campaigns. For instance, 

20 the largest platform has over 247,000,000 American 

21 users—over 153,000,000 of them on a daily basis. 

22 By contrast, the largest cable television provider has 

23 16,142,000 subscribers, while the largest satellite 

24 television provider has 13,300,000 subscribers. And 


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1 the most-watched television broadcast in United 

2 States history had 118,000,000 viewers. 

3 (9) The public nature of broadcast television, 

4 radio, and satellite ensures a level of publicity for 

5 any political advertisement. These communications 

6 are accessible to the press, fact-checkers, and polit7 ical opponents. This creates strong disincentives for 

8 a candidate to disseminate materially false, inflam9 matory, or contradictory messages to the public. So10 cial media platforms, in contrast, can target portions 

11 of the electorate with direct, ephemeral advertise12 ments often on the basis of private information the 

13 platform has on individuals, enabling political adver14 tisements that are contradictory, racially or socially 

15 inflammatory, or materially false. 

16 (10) Large social media platforms are the only 

17 entities in possession of certain key data related to 

18 paid online ads, including the exact audience tar19 geted by those ads and their number of impressions. 

20 Such information, which cannot be reliably disclosed 

21 by the purchasers of ads, is extremely useful for in22 forming the electorate, guarding against corruption, 

23 and aiding in the enforcement of existing campaign 

24 finance regulations. 


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1 (11) Paid advertisements on social media plat2 forms have served as critical tools for foreign online 

3 influence campaigns—even those that rely on large 

4 amounts of unpaid content—because such ads allow 

5 foreign actors to test the effectiveness of different 

6 messages, expose their messages to audiences who 

7 have not sought out such content, and recruit audi8 ences for future campaigns and posts. 

9 (12) A 2019 Senate Select Committee on 

10 Intelligence’s Report on Russian Active Measures 

11 Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elec12 tion Volume 2: Russia’s Use of Social Media with 

13 Additional Views, the Committee recommended 

14 ‘‘that Congress examine legislative approaches to en15 suring Americans know the sources of online polit16 ical advertisements. The Federal Election Campaign 

17 Act of 1971 requires political advertisements on tele18 vision, radio and satellite to disclose the sponsor of 

19 the advertisement. The same requirements should 

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

21 IRA or any similarly situated actors cannot use paid 

22 advertisements for purposes of foreign inter23 ference.’’. 

24 (13) On March 16, 2021, the Office of the Di25 rector of National Intelligence released the declasVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S486.IS S486

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1 sified Intelligence Community assessment of foreign 

2 threats to the 2020 U.S. Federal elections. The de3 classified report found: ‘‘Throughout the election 

4 cycle, Russia’s online influence actors sought to af5 fect U.S. public perceptions of the candidates, as 

6 well as advance Moscow’s longstanding goals of un7 dermining confidence in U.S. election processes and 

8 increasing sociopolitical divisions among the Amer9 ican people.’’ The report also determined that Iran 

10 sought to influence the election by ‘‘creating and 

11 amplifying social media content that criticized [can12 didates].’’ 

13 (14) According to a Wall Street Journal report 

14 in April 2021, voluntary ad libraries operated by 

15 major platforms rely on foreign governments to self16 report political ad purchases. These ad-buys, includ17 ing those diminishing major human rights violations 

18 like the Uighur genocide, are under-reported by for19 eign government purchasers, with no substantial 

20 oversight or repercussions from the platforms. 

21 (15) Multiple reports have indicated that online 

22 ads have become a key vector for strategic influence 

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

24 Wall Street Journal report noted that the Chinese 

25 Government and Chinese State-owned enterprises 


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1 are major purchasers of ads on the U.S.’s largest so2 cial media platform, including to advance Chinese 

3 propaganda. 

4 (16) Large online platforms have made changes 

5 to their policies intended to make it harder for for6 eign actors to purchase political ads. However, these 

7 private actions have not been taken by all platforms, 

8 have not been reliably enforced, and are subject to 

9 immediate change at the discretion of the platforms. 

10 (17) The Federal Election Commission’s cur11 rent regulations on political advertisements do not 

12 provide sufficient transparency to uphold the 

13 public’s right to be fully informed about political ad14 vertisements made online. 

15 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

16 It is the sense of Congress that— 

17 (1) the dramatic increase in digital political ad18 vertisements, and the growing centrality of online 

19 platforms in the lives of Americans, requires the 

20 Congress and the Federal Election Commission to 

21 take meaningful action to ensure that laws and reg22 ulations provide the accountability and transparency 

23 that is fundamental to our democracy; 

24 (2) free and fair elections require both trans25 parency and accountability which give the public a 


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1 right to know the true sources of funding for polit2 ical advertisements, be they foreign or domestic, in 

3 order to make informed political choices and hold 

4 elected officials accountable; and 

5 (3) transparency of funding for political adver6 tisements is essential to enforce other campaign fi7 nance laws, including the prohibition on campaign 

8 spending by foreign nationals. 

9 SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF PUBLIC COMMU10 NICATION. 

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

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

13 30101(22)) is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite commu14 nication’’ and inserting ‘‘satellite, paid internet, or paid 

15 digital communication’’. 

16 (b) TREATMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI17 TURES.—Section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30101) is 

18 amended— 

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

20 broadcasting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 

21 or similar types of general public political adver22 tising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public communica23 tion’’; and 

24 (2) in paragraph (9)(B)— 


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1 (A) by amending clause (i) to read as fol2 lows: 

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

4 editorial distributed through the facilities 

5 of any broadcasting station or any print, 

6 online, or digital newspaper, magazine, 

7 publication, periodical, blog, or platform, 

8 unless such broadcasting, print, online, or 

9 digital facilities are owned or controlled by 

10 any political party, political committee, or 

11 candidate;’’; and 

12 (B) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘on broad13 casting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 

14 or similar types of general public political ad15 vertising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public commu16 nication’’. 

17 (c) DISCLOSURE AND DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS.— 

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

19 30120) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘financing any communication 

21 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga22 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

23 other type of general public political advertising’’ 

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

25 and 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘solicits any contribution 

2 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga3 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

4 other type of general public political advertising’’ 

5 and inserting ‘‘solicits any contribution through any 

6 public communication’’. 

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

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

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

10 or not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 

11 the final regulations necessary to carry out this part and 

12 the amendments made by this part by the deadline set 

13 forth in subsection (e). 

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

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

16 Commission shall promulgate regulations on what con17 stitutes a paid internet or paid digital communication for 

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

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

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

21 shall not define a paid internet or paid digital communica22 tion to include communications for which the only pay23 ment consists of internal resources, such as employee com24 pensation, of the entity paying for the communication. 


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1 SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ELECTIONEERING 

2 COMMUNICATION. 

3 (a) EXPANSION TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.— 

4 (1) APPLICATION TO QUALIFIED INTERNET AND

5 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

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

7 section 304(f)(3) of the Federal Election Cam8 paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)(3)(A)) 

9 is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite communica10 tion’’ each place it appears in clauses (i) and 

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

12 or digital communication’’. 

13 (B) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL

14 COMMUNICATION.—Paragraph (3) of section 

15 304(f) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)) is 

16 amended by adding at the end the following 

17 new subparagraph: 

18 ‘‘(D) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL

19 COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘qualified internet 

20 or digital communication’ means any commu21 nication which is placed or promoted for a fee 

22 on an online platform (as defined in subsection 

23 (j)(3)).’’. 

24 (2) NONAPPLICATION OF RELEVANT ELEC25 TORATE TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 

26 304(f)(3)(A)(i)(III) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 


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1 30104(f)(3)(A)(i)(III)) is amended by inserting ‘‘any 

2 broadcast, cable, or satellite’’ before ‘‘communica3 tion’’. 

4 (3) NEWS EXEMPTION.—Section 

5 304(f)(3)(B)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

6 30104(f)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(i) a communication appearing in a 

8 news story, commentary, or editorial dis9 tributed through the facilities of any 

10 broadcasting station or any online or dig11 ital newspaper, magazine, publication, peri12 odical, blog, or platform, unless such 

13 broadcasting, online, or digital facilities are 

14 owned or controlled by any political party, 

15 political committee, or candidate;’’. 

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

17 this section shall apply with respect to communications 

18 made on or after January 1, 2024, and shall take effect 

19 without regard to whether or not the Federal Election 

20 Commission has promulgated regulations to carry out 

21 such amendments. 

22 SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS TO ON23 LINE COMMUNICATIONS. 

24 (a) CLEAR AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER REQUIRE25 MENT.—Subsection (a) of section 318 of the Federal ElecVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Mar 09, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S486.IS S486

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1 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30120(a)) is 

2 amended— 

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

4 it appears in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and in5 serting ‘‘shall state in a clear and conspicuous man6 ner’’; and 

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

8 sentence: ‘‘For purposes of this section, a commu9 nication does not make a statement in a clear and 

10 conspicuous manner if it is difficult to read or hear 

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

12 (b) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR

13 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

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

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

16 following new subsection: 

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

18 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

19 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULES WITH RESPECT TO STATE20 MENTS.—In the case of any qualified internet or 

21 digital communication (as defined in section 

22 304(f)(3)(D)) which is disseminated through a me23 dium in which the provision of all of the information 

24 specified in this section is not possible, the commu25 nication shall, in a clear and conspicuous manner— 


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

2 paid for the communication; and 

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

4 the communication to obtain the remainder of 

5 the information required under this section with 

6 minimal effort and without receiving or viewing 

7 any additional material other than such re8 quired information. 

9 ‘‘(2) SAFE HARBOR FOR DETERMINING CLEAR

10 AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER.—A statement in quali11 fied internet or digital communication (as defined in 

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

13 in a clear and conspicuous manner as provided in 

14 subsection (a) if the communication meets the fol15 lowing requirements: 

16 ‘‘(A) TEXT OR GRAPHIC COMMUNICA17 TIONS.—In the case of a text or graphic com18 munication, the statement— 

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

20 as the majority of the text in the commu21 nication; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) meets the requirements of para23 graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c). 

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

25 case of an audio communication, the statement 


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1 is spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible 

2 manner at the beginning or end of the commu3 nication and lasts at least 3 seconds. 

4 ‘‘(C) VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 

5 case of a video communication which also in6 cludes audio, the statement— 

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

8 or the end of the communication; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) is made both in— 

10 ‘‘(I) a written format that meets 

11 the requirements of subparagraph (A) 

12 and appears for at least 4 seconds; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(II) an audible format that 

15 meets the requirements of subpara16 graph (B). 

17 ‘‘(D) OTHER COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 

18 case of any other type of communication, the 

19 statement is at least as clear and conspicuous 

20 as the statement specified in subparagraph (A), 

21 (B), or (C).’’. 

22 (2) NONAPPLICATION OF CERTAIN EXCEP23 TIONS.—The exceptions provided in section 

24 110.11(f)(1)(i) and (ii) of title 11, Code of Federal 

25 Regulations, or any successor to such rules, shall 


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1 have no application to qualified internet or digital 

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

3 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971). 

4 (c) MODIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

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

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

7 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 

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

10 audio format’’; and 

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

12 and inserting ‘‘AUDIO FORMAT’’; 

13 (2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 

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

16 video format’’; and 

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

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

19 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘transmitted through radio 

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

22 video format’’; and 

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

24 second sentence and inserting ‘‘in video for25 mat’’. 


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

2 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact3 ment of this Act and shall take effect without regard to 

4 whether or not the Federal Election Commission has pro5 mulgated regulations to carry out such amendments. 

6 SEC. 8. POLITICAL RECORD REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE 

7 PLATFORMS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal Elec9 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104) is amended 

10 by adding at the end the following new subsection: 

11 ‘‘(j) DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN ONLINE ADVERTISE12 MENTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

14 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE PLAT15 FORMS.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An online plat17 form shall maintain, and make available 

18 for online public inspection in machine 

19 readable format, a complete record of any 

20 qualified political advertisement which is 

21 purchased by a person whose aggregate 

22 purchases of qualified political advertise23 ments on such online platform during the 

24 calendar year exceeds $500. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT RELATING TO PO2 LITICAL ADS SOLD BY THIRD PARTY AD3 VERTISING VENDORS.—An online platform 

4 that displays a qualified political advertise5 ment sold by a third party advertising ven6 dor shall include on its own platform— 

7 ‘‘(I) an easily accessible and 

8 identifiable link to the records main9 tained by the third-party advertising 

10 vendor under clause (i) regarding 

11 such qualified political advertisement; 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(II) in any case in which the 

14 third party advertising vendor does 

15 not make such records available, a 

16 statement that no records from the 

17 third party advertising vendors 

18 records are available. 

19 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR ADVER20 TISERS.—Any person who purchases a qualified 

21 political advertisement on an online platform 

22 shall provide the online platform with such in23 formation as is necessary for the online plat24 form to comply with the requirements of sub25 paragraph (A). 


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1 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORD.—A record main2 tained under paragraph (1)(A) shall contain— 

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

4 advertisement; 

5 ‘‘(B) a description of the audience that re6 ceived the advertisement, the number of views 

7 generated from the advertisement, and the date 

8 and time that the advertisement is first dis9 played and last displayed; and 

10 ‘‘(C) information regarding— 

11 ‘‘(i) the total cost of the advertise12 ment (which may be rounded to the near13 est $100); 

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

15 which the advertisement refers and the of16 fice to which the candidate is seeking elec17 tion, the election to which the advertise18 ment refers, or the national legislative 

19 issue to which the advertisement refers (as 

20 applicable); 

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

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

23 of the candidate, the authorized committee 

24 of the candidate, and the treasurer of such 

25 committee; and 


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

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

3 person purchasing the advertisement, the 

4 name and address of a contact person for 

5 such person, and a list of the chief execu6 tive officers or members of the executive 

7 committee or of the board of directors of 

8 such person. 

9 ‘‘(3) ONLINE PLATFORM.— 

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

11 subsection, subject to subparagraph (B), the 

12 term ‘online platform’ means any public-facing 

13 website, web application, or digital application 

14 (including a social network, ad network, or 

15 search engine) which— 

16 ‘‘(i)(I) sells qualified political adver17 tisements; and 

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

19 monthly United States visitors or users for 

20 a majority of months during the preceding 

21 12 months; or 

22 ‘‘(ii) is a third-party advertising ven23 dor that has 50,000,000 or more unique 

24 monthly United States visitors in the ag25 gregate on any advertisement space that it 


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1 has sold or bought for a majority of 

2 months during the preceding 12 months, 

3 as measured by an independent digital rat4 ings service accredited by the Media Rat5 ings Council (or its successor). 

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

7 include any online platform that is a distribu8 tion facility of any broadcasting station or 

9 newspaper, magazine, blog, publication, or peri10 odical. 

11 ‘‘(C) THIRD-PARTY ADVERTISING VENDOR

12 DEFINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the 

13 term ‘third-party advertising vendor’ includes 

14 any third-party advertising vendor network, ad15 vertising agency, advertiser, or third-party ad16 vertisement serving company that buys and 

17 sells advertisement space on behalf of unaffili18 ated third-party websites, search engines, dig19 ital applications, or social media sites. 

20 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.— 

21 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘qualified 

22 political advertisement’ means any advertisement 

23 (including search engine marketing, display adver24 tisements, video advertisements, native advertise25 ments, and sponsorships) that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) is made by or on behalf of a can2 didate; or 

3 ‘‘(B) communicates a message relating to 

4 any political matter of national importance, in5 cluding— 

6 ‘‘(i) a candidate; 

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

8 ‘‘(iii) a national legislative issue of 

9 public importance. 

10 ‘‘(5) TIME TO MAINTAIN FILE.—The informa11 tion required under this subsection shall be made 

12 available as soon as possible and shall be retained by 

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

14 years. 

15 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULE.—For purposes of this sub16 section, multiple versions of an advertisement that 

17 contain no material differences (such as versions 

18 that differ only because they contain a recipient’s 

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

20 may be treated as a single qualified political adver21 tisement. 

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

23 online platforms, and persons requesting to purchase 

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1 forms, to comply with the requirements of this sub2 section, see section 309.’’. 

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

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

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

6 or not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 

7 the final regulations necessary to carry out this part and 

8 the amendments made by this part by the deadline set 

9 forth in subsection (c). 

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

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

12 Commission shall establish rules— 

13 (1) for determining whether an advertisement 

14 communicates a national legislative issue for pur15 poses of section 304(j) of the Federal Election Cam16 paign Act of 1971 (as added by subsection (a)); 

17 (2) requiring common data formats for the 

18 record required to be maintained under such section 

19 304(j) so that all online platforms submit and main20 tain data online in a common, machine-readable and 

21 publicly accessible format; and 

22 (3) establishing search interface requirements 

23 relating to such record, including searches by can24 didate name, issue, purchaser, and date. 


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

2 date of the enactment of this Act, and biannually there3 after, the Chairman of the Federal Election Commission 

4 shall submit a report to Congress on— 

5 (1) matters relating to compliance with and the 

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

7 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 

8 added by subsection (a); 

9 (2) recommendations for any modifications to 

10 such section to assist in carrying out its purposes; 

11 and 

12 (3) identifying ways to bring transparency and 

13 accountability to political advertisements distributed 

14 online for free. 

15 SEC. 9. PREVENTING CONTRIBUTIONS, EXPENDITURES, 

16 INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES, AND DIS17 BURSEMENTS FOR ELECTIONEERING COM18 MUNICATIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN 

19 THE FORM OF ONLINE ADVERTISING. 

20 Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 

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

22 end the following new subsection: 

23 ‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF BROADCAST STATIONS, 

24 PROVIDERS OF CABLE AND SATELLITE TELEVISION, AND

25 ONLINE PLATFORMS.— 


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•S 486 IS

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

2 broadcast station, provider of cable or satellite tele3 vision, or online platform (as defined in section 

4 304(j)(3)) shall make reasonable efforts to ensure 

5 that communications described in section 318(a) and 

6 made available by such station, provider, or platform 

7 are not purchased by a foreign national, directly or 

8 indirectly. 

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

10 after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 

11 the Commission shall promulgate regulations on 

12 what constitutes reasonable efforts under paragraph 

13 (1).’’. 

14 SEC. 10. REQUIRING ONLINE PLATFORMS TO DISPLAY NO15 TICES IDENTIFYING SPONSORS OF POLIT16 ICAL ADVERTISEMENTS AND TO ENSURE NO17 TICES CONTINUE TO BE PRESENT WHEN AD18 VERTISEMENTS ARE SHARED. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal Elec20 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104), as amend21 ed by section 8(a), is amended by adding at the end the 

22 following new subsection: 

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

24 IDENTIFICATION IN ONLINE POLITICAL ADVERTISE25 MENTS.— 


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•S 486 IS

1 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Any online platform that 

2 displays a qualified political advertisement (regard3 less of whether such qualified political advertisement 

4 was purchased directly from the online platform) 

5 shall— 

6 ‘‘(A) display with the advertisement a visi7 ble notice identifying the sponsor of the adver8 tisement (or, if it is not practical for the plat9 form to display such a notice, a notice that the 

10 advertisement is sponsored by a person other 

11 than the platform); and 

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

13 be displayed if a viewer of the advertisement 

14 shares the advertisement with others on that 

15 platform. 

16 ‘‘(2) SAFE HARBOR.—An online platform shall 

17 not be treated as having failed to comply with the 

18 requirements of paragraph (1)(A) for the 

19 misidentification of a person as the sponsor of the 

20 advertisement if— 

21 ‘‘(A) the person placing the online adver22 tisement designated the person displayed in the 

23 advertisement as the sponsor; and 

24 ‘‘(B) the online platform relied on such 

25 designation in good faith. 


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•S 486 IS

1 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

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

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

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

6 subsection (j)(4); and 

7 ‘‘(C) the term ‘sponsor’ means the person 

8 purchasing the advertisement.’’. 

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

10 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to advertisements 

11 displayed on or after the 120–day period which begins on 

12 the date of the enactment of this Act and shall take effect 

13 without regard to whether or not the Federal Election 

14 Commission has promulgated regulations to carry out 

15 such amendments. 

Æ 


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