I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7012 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to prohibit online 

platforms and certain intermediaries from targeting the dissemination 

of political advertisements to a specific group of individuals on the 

basis of online behavioral data or on the basis of demographic characteristics shared by members of the group, to require online platforms 

and certain intermediaries to maintain public records of certain political 

advertisements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2020 

Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, Mr. HASTINGS, Mrs. 

HAYES, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to 

prohibit online platforms and certain intermediaries from 

targeting the dissemination of political advertisements 

to a specific group of individuals on the basis of online 

behavioral data or on the basis of demographic characteristics shared by members of the group, to require online 

platforms and certain intermediaries to maintain public 

records of certain political advertisements, and for other 

purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Protecting Democracy 

5 From Disinformation Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENTS 

7 DISSEMINATED BY ONLINE PLATFORMS OR 

8 ARRANGED FOR DISSEMINATION BY CERTAIN 

9 INTERMEDIARIES. 

10 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Title III of the Federal Elec11 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101 et seq.) is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 325. REQUIREMENTS FOR POLITICAL ADVERTISE14 MENTS DISSEMINATED BY ONLINE PLAT15 FORMS OR ARRANGED FOR DISSEMINATION 

16 BY CERTAIN INTERMEDIARIES. 

17 ‘‘(a) RESTRICTIONS ON MICROTARGETING.— 

18 ‘‘(1) RESTRICTIONS ON ADVERTISEMENTS TAR19 GETED AT GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS ON BASIS OF ON20 LINE BEHAVIORAL DATA.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

22 paragraph (3), a covered online platform may 

23 not target the dissemination of a qualified polit24 ical advertisement, and a covered intermediary 

25 may not arrange for the dissemination of a 


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1 qualified political advertisement, to a specific 

2 group of individuals on the basis of any online 

3 behavioral data of such individuals. 

4 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR DISSEMINATION

5 TO INDIVIDUALS ON LIST PROVIDED BY SPON6 SOR OF ADVERTISEMENT.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A covered online 

8 platform which targets the dissemination 

9 of a qualified political advertisement to a 

10 specific group of individuals on a list pro11 vided by the sponsor of the advertisement, 

12 and a covered intermediary which arranges 

13 for the dissemination of a qualified polit14 ical advertisement to a specific group of in15 dividuals on a list provided by the sponsor 

16 of the advertisement, shall not be consid17 ered to be in violation of this paragraph if 

18 the platform or intermediary made a good 

19 faith effort to ensure that individuals are 

20 not included on the list on the basis of 

21 their online behavioral data. 

22 ‘‘(ii) SAFE HARBOR FOR PLATFORMS

23 AND INTERMEDIARIES REQUIRING CERTIFI24 CATION BY ADVERTISER.—For purposes of 

25 clause (i), a covered online platform and a 


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1 covered intermediary shall be considered to 

2 have made a good faith effort to ensure 

3 that the individuals on a list provided by 

4 the sponsor of a qualified political adver5 tisement are not included on the list on the 

6 basis of their online behavioral data if the 

7 platform or intermediary requires the ad8 vertiser to certify that each individual on 

9 the list subscribed to the list or consented 

10 to being included on the list. 

11 ‘‘(C) ONLINE BEHAVIORAL DATA DE12 FINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘online be13 havioral data’ means, with respect to an indi14 vidual, information that is tracked, collected, or 

15 maintained about an individual’s actions or ac16 tivities online, including information relating to 

17 an individual’s activity across businesses, dis18 tinctly branded websites, applications, or serv19 ices, but does not include information relating 

20 to an individual’s activity with a business, dis21 tinctly branded website, application, or service 

22 with which the individual intentionally interacts. 

23 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTIONS ON ADVERTISEMENTS TAR24 GETED AT GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS ON BASIS OF

25 SHARED DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTIC.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 paragraph (3), a covered online platform may 

3 not target the dissemination of a qualified polit4 ical advertisement, and a covered intermediary 

5 may not arrange for the dissemination of a 

6 qualified political advertisement, to a specific 

7 group of individuals on the basis of any demo8 graphic characteristic shared by members of 

9 such group unless— 

10 ‘‘(i) the demographic characteristic is 

11 described in subparagraph (B); and 

12 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a covered online 

13 platform, the platform disseminates with 

14 the advertisement the accompanying state15 ment described in paragraph (4). 

16 ‘‘(B) DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

17 DESCRIBED.—The demographic characteristics 

18 described in this subparagraph with respect to 

19 a group of individuals are the following: 

20 ‘‘(i) The age of the members of the 

21 group. 

22 ‘‘(ii) The gender of the members of 

23 the group. 

24 ‘‘(iii) The geographic area in which 

25 the members of the group reside, except 


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1 that such area may not be smaller than the 

2 ZIP Code in which the members of the 

3 group reside. 

4 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

5 in paragraph (1) shall be construed to prohibit 

6 a covered online platform or a covered inter7 mediary from using online behavioral data (as 

8 described in such paragraph) with respect to an 

9 individual to determine the demographic char10 acteristics described in subparagraph (B) which 

11 apply to such individual. 

12 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION FOR TARGETING ON A CON13 TEXTUAL BASIS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) EXCEPTION.—Paragraphs (1) and 

15 (2) do not apply if— 

16 ‘‘(i) a covered online platform targets 

17 the dissemination of a qualified political 

18 advertisement, or a covered intermediary 

19 arranges for the dissemination of a quali20 fied political advertisement, to a specific 

21 group of individuals on a contextual basis 

22 as described in subparagraph (B); and 

23 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a covered online 

24 platform, the platform disseminates with 


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1 the advertisement the accompanying state2 ment described in paragraph (4). 

3 ‘‘(B) DISSEMINATION OF ADVERTISE4 MENTS ON CONTEXTUAL BASIS.—For purposes 

5 of subparagraph (A), a covered online platform 

6 disseminates a qualified political advertisement 

7 on a contextual basis, and a covered inter8 mediary arranges for the dissemination of a 

9 qualified political advertisement on a contextual 

10 basis, if the advertisement involved is dissemi11 nated solely on the basis of the content that the 

12 individual is viewing on the covered online plat13 form at the same time the advertisement ap14 pears on the covered online platform and is not 

15 otherwise disseminated on the basis of online 

16 behavioral data with respect to such individual. 

17 ‘‘(4) ACCOMPANYING STATEMENT DE18 SCRIBED.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The accompanying 

20 statement described in this paragraph is, with 

21 respect to a qualified political advertisement, a 

22 statement made in a clear and conspicuous 

23 manner which states that the dissemination of 

24 the advertisement is targeted to a specific 

25 group of individuals and which includes— 


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1 ‘‘(i) in the case of the statement re2 quired under paragraph (2)(A), a descrip3 tion of the demographic characteristic on 

4 which the group was targeted; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) in the case of the statement re6 quired under paragraph (3)(A), a descrip7 tion of the content on which the dissemina8 tion of the advertisement is based. 

9 ‘‘(B) SAFE HARBOR FOR DETERMINING

10 CLEAR AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER.—For pur11 poses of subparagraph (A), a statement shall be 

12 considered to be made in a clear and con13 spicuous manner if the statement is displayed 

14 onscreen above the qualified political advertise15 ment in the format in which the advertisement 

16 appears. 

17 ‘‘(5) AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC18 TION.— 

19 ‘‘(A) RIGHT TO FILE ACTION.—An ag20 grieved person alleging a violation of this sub21 section may bring a civil action against any cov22 ered online platform or covered intermediary in 

23 an appropriate district court for damages, de24 claratory, injunctive relief, or any other relief 


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1 the court deems appropriate with respect to the 

2 violation. 

3 ‘‘(B) DAMAGES.—(i) If the court finds 

4 that the defendant violated this subsection or 

5 the regulations prescribed under this sub6 section, the court may, in its discretion, award 

7 up to $100,000 in damages to plaintiff per vio8 lation. 

9 ‘‘(ii) If the court finds that the defendant 

10 knowingly and willfully violated this subsection 

11 or the regulations prescribed under this sub12 section, the court may, in its discretion, in13 crease the amount of the award to an amount 

14 equal to not more than 3 times the amount per 

15 violation available under clause (i). 

16 ‘‘(C) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In a civil action 

17 under this paragraph, the court may allow the 

18 prevailing party (other than the United States) 

19 reasonable attorney fees, including litigation ex20 penses, and costs. 

21 ‘‘(D) RELATION TO OTHER REMEDIES.— 

22 The remedy established by this paragraph is in 

23 addition to all other rights and remedies pro24 vided under this Act. 


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1 ‘‘(E) INJURY IN FACT.—If a court finds 

2 that the defendant violated this section, the 

3 court shall find that such violation constitutes 

4 a concrete and particularized injury in fact to 

5 the plaintiff. 

6 ‘‘(F) TREATMENT OF MANDATORY

7 PREDISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENTS AND

8 PREDISPUTE JOINT ACTION WAIVERS.—Any 

9 agreement to arbitrate an alleged dispute of 

10 this subsection that has not yet arisen at the 

11 time of making the agreement or any agree12 ment that would otherwise prohibit, or waive 

13 the right of, one of the parties to the agreement 

14 to participate in a joint, class, or collection ac15 tion in federal court, concerning a dispute due 

16 to an alleged violation of this subsection that 

17 has not yet arisen at the time of making the 

18 agreement shall be deemed invalid and unen19 forceable for purposes of civil action arising out 

20 of an alleged violation of this subsection, not21 withstanding any other provision of law. 

22 ‘‘(b) MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS OF QUALIFIED PO23 LITICAL ADVERTISEMENTS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE PLAT2 FORMS AND COVERED INTERMEDIARIES.— 

3 ‘‘(i) RECORDS OF REQUESTS TO PUR4 CHASE ADVERTISEMENTS.—A covered on5 line platform and a covered intermediary 

6 shall maintain, and make available for on7 line public inspection in a machine read8 able format which is searchable on the 

9 basis of any of the information described 

10 in paragraph (2), a complete record of any 

11 request to purchase on such platform (or, 

12 in the case of a covered intermediary, of 

13 any request to purchase an arrangement 

14 for the dissemination by the intermediary 

15 of) a qualified political advertisement 

16 which is made by a person the value of 

17 whose aggregate requests to purchase 

18 qualified political advertisements on such 

19 online platform or to purchase arrange20 ments for the dissemination of qualified 

21 political advertisements by the inter22 mediary (as the case may be) during the 

23 calendar year exceeds $500. 

24 ‘‘(ii) ASSIGNMENT OF UNIQUE IDENTI25 FICATION NUMBER.—The covered online 


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1 platform and the covered intermediary 

2 shall assign a unique identification number 

3 to each person described in clause (i), and 

4 shall use that same number with respect to 

5 all information relating to such person 

6 which is included in the record the plat7 form or intermediary maintains and makes 

8 available under this subsection. If the per9 son is a candidate, the platform or inter10 mediary shall assign to the person the 

11 same identification number assigned to the 

12 person by the Commission for purposes of 

13 filing reports under this Act. 

14 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR ADVER15 TISERS.— 

16 ‘‘(i) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.— 

17 Any person who requests to purchase a 

18 qualified political advertisement on a cov19 ered online platform, or who requests to 

20 purchase an arrangement for the dissemi21 nation of a qualified political advertisement 

22 by a covered intermediary, shall provide 

23 the online platform or intermediary with 

24 such information as is necessary for the 

25 online platform or intermediary to comply 


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1 with the requirements of subparagraph 

2 (A). 

3 ‘‘(ii) ASSISTANCE FROM PLAT4 FORMS.—Each covered online platform and 

5 covered intermediary shall provide such as6 sistance as may be required to enable a 

7 person to provide the platform or inter8 mediary with the information required 

9 under clause (i). 

10 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORD.—A record main11 tained under paragraph (1)(A) shall contain— 

12 ‘‘(A) the unique identification number as13 signed under such paragraph to the person 

14 making the request (and, if the person is a can15 didate, a statement that such number is the 

16 same identification number assigned to the per17 son by the Commission for purposes of filing re18 ports under this Act); 

19 ‘‘(B) a digital copy of the qualified political 

20 advertisement; 

21 ‘‘(C) a description of the advertisement’s 

22 targeted audience, including information on the 

23 audience’s age, gender, and geographic location; 

24 ‘‘(D) a description of the advertisement’s 

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1 ing information on the audience’s age, gender, 

2 geographic location, race, ethnicity, and polit3 ical affiliation, except that a covered online 

4 platform or a covered intermediary may exclude 

5 this information from the record maintained 

6 under paragraph (1)(A) with respect to an ad7 vertisement if the platform or intermediary does 

8 not, in the ordinary course of business, collect 

9 such information with respect to such an adver10 tisement; 

11 ‘‘(E) a description of the advertisement’s 

12 actual audience as determined on the basis of 

13 data provided in an online platform user’s pro14 file, including information on the audience’s 

15 age, gender, geographic location, race, ethnicity, 

16 and political affiliation, except that a covered 

17 online platform or a covered intermediary may 

18 exclude this information from the record main19 tained under paragraph (1)(A) with respect to 

20 an advertisement if the platform or inter21 mediary does not, in the ordinary course of 

22 business, collect such information with respect 

23 to such an advertisement; 

24 ‘‘(F) the number of views generated from 

25 the advertisement; 


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1 ‘‘(G) the date and time that the advertise2 ment is first displayed and last displayed; and 

3 ‘‘(H) information regarding— 

4 ‘‘(i) the average rate charged for the 

5 advertisement; 

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

7 which the advertisement refers and the of8 fice to which the candidate is seeking elec9 tion, the election to which the advertise10 ment refers, or the national legislative 

11 issue to which the advertisement refers (as 

12 applicable); and 

13 ‘‘(iii) the amount such person budg14 eted for the purchase of the advertisement 

15 on the platform, as well as the amount 

16 such person paid for the purchase of the 

17 advertisement on the platform. 

18 ‘‘(3) TIME TO MAINTAIN FILE.—The informa19 tion required under this subsection shall be made 

20 available as soon as possible and shall be retained by 

21 the covered online platform or covered intermediary 

22 for a period of not less than 4 years. 

23 ‘‘(4) SAFE HARBOR FOR PLATFORMS AND

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1 TIFY REQUESTS WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO RECORD

2 MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) AVAILABILITY OF SAFE HARBOR.—In 

4 accordance with rules established by the Com5 mission, if a covered online platform or covered 

6 intermediary shows that the platform or inter7 mediary used best efforts to determine whether 

8 or not a request to purchase a qualified political 

9 advertisement or a request to purchase an ar10 rangement for the dissemination of a qualified 

11 political advertisement (as the case may be) was 

12 subject to the requirements of this subsection, 

13 the platform or intermediary shall not be con14 sidered to be in violation of such requirements. 

15 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULES FOR DISBURSEMENT

16 PAID WITH CREDIT CARD.—For purposes of 

17 subparagraph (A), a covered online platform or 

18 a covered intermediary shall be considered to 

19 have used best efforts in the case of a purchase 

20 of a qualified political advertisement, or a pur21 chase of an arrangement for the dissemination 

22 of a qualified political advertisement (as the 

23 case may be), which is made with a credit card 

24 if— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the individual or entity making 

2 such purchase is required, at the time of 

3 making such purchase, to disclose the cred4 it verification value of such credit card; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the billing address associated 

7 with such credit card is located in the 

8 United States or, in the case of a purchase 

9 made by an individual who is a United 

10 States citizen living outside of the United 

11 States, the individual provides the platform 

12 or intermediary with the United States 

13 mailing address the individual uses for 

14 voter registration purposes. 

15 ‘‘(c) COVERED ONLINE PLATFORM DEFINED.—In 

16 this section, the term ‘covered online platform’ means any 

17 public facing website, web application, or digital applica18 tion (including a social network or search engine) which 

19 sells qualified political advertisements and has 50,000,000 

20 or more unique monthly United States visitors or users 

21 for a majority of months during the preceding 12 months, 

22 except that such term does not include a website or appli23 cation that displays qualified political advertisements sole24 ly pursuant to an arrangement entered into with a covered 


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1 intermediary between the website or application and the 

2 sponsor of the qualified political advertisement. 

3 ‘‘(d) COVERED INTERMEDIARY DEFINED.—In this 

4 section, the term ‘covered intermediary’ means a digital 

5 advertising platform or advertising system (including an 

6 ad server, ad network, ad exchange, and any other adver7 tising technology intermediary) which participates in the 

8 delivery of 100,000,000 advertisements that can be viewed 

9 in the United States for a majority of months during the 

10 preceding 12 months. 

11 ‘‘(e) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT DE12 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘qualified political ad13 vertisement’ means any advertisement (including search 

14 engine marketing, display advertisements, video advertise15 ments, native advertisements, and sponsorships) that— 

16 ‘‘(1) is made by or on behalf of a candidate; or 

17 ‘‘(2) communicates a message relating to any 

18 political matter of national importance, including— 

19 ‘‘(A) a candidate; 

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

21 ‘‘(C) a national legislative issue of public 

22 importance.’’. 

23 (b) ENHANCED CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR VIOLA24 TIONS.—Section 309(d)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 


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1 30109(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(E) Any covered online platform or covered inter4 mediary, or an officer or director of a covered online plat5 form or covered intermediary, who knowingly and willfully 

6 commits a violation of section 325 shall be imprisoned not 

7 more than 5 years, fined under title 18, United States 

8 Code, or both.’’. 

9 (c) RULEMAKING.— 

10 (1) RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL ELECTION

11 COMMISSION.—Not later than 90 days after the date 

12 of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election 

13 Commission shall establish rules— 

14 (A) regarding the definition of any term 

15 whose definition is set forth in section 325 of 

16 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (as 

17 added by subsection (a)); 

18 (B) regarding the restrictions established 

19 under section 325(a) of such Act (as added by 

20 subsection (a)) on targeting the dissemination 

21 of qualified political advertisements to a specific 

22 group of individuals on the basis of any demo23 graphic characteristic shared by members of 

24 such group, including establishing the criteria 


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1 for the safe harbors described in paragraphs 

2 (1)(B)(ii) and (4)(B) of such section; 

3 (C) requiring common data formats for the 

4 record required to be maintained under section 

5 325(b) of such Act (as added by subsection (a)) 

6 so that all online platforms and intermediaries 

7 submit and maintain data online in a common, 

8 machine-readable and publicly accessible for9 mat; 

10 (D) establishing search interface require11 ments relating to such record, including 

12 searches by candidate name, issue, purchaser, 

13 and date; and 

14 (E) establishing the criteria for the safe 

15 harbor exception provided under paragraph (4) 

16 of section 325(b) of such Act (as added by sub17 section (a)). 

18 (2) REVISION.—After the Commission first es19 tablishes rules pursuant to this subsection, the Com20 mission shall revise the rules every 5 years there21 after. 

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

23 date of the enactment of this Act, and biannually there24 after, the Chairman of the Federal Election Commission 

25 shall submit a report to Congress on— 


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1 (1) matters relating to compliance with and the 

2 enforcement of the requirements of section 325(b) of 

3 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 

4 added by subsection (a); 

5 (2) recommendations for any modifications to 

6 such section to assist in carrying out its purposes; 

7 and 

8 (3) identifying ways to bring transparency and 

9 accountability to political advertisements distributed 

10 online for free. 

11 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

12 this section shall apply with respect to qualified political 

13 advertisements disseminated after the expiration of the 

14 120-day period which begins on the date of the enactment 

15 of this Act. 

Æ 


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