II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1989 

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 

OCTOBER 19, 2017 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. MCCAIN) 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 Act is to enhance the integrity 

7 of American democracy and national security by improving 

8 disclosure requirements for online political advertisements 


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1 in order to uphold the United States Supreme Court’s 

2 well-established standard that the electorate bears the 

3 right to be fully informed. 

4 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) On January 6, 2017, the Office of the Di7 rector of National Intelligence published a report ti8 tled ‘‘Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in 

9 Recent U.S. Elections’’, noting that ‘‘Russian Presi10 dent Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign 

11 in 2016 aimed at the U.S. Presidential election 

12 . . .’’. Moscow’s influence campaign followed a Rus13 sian messaging strategy that blends covert intel14 ligence operation—such as cyber activity—with overt 

15 efforts by Russian Government agencies, State-fund16 ed media, third-party intermediaries, and paid social 

17 media users or ‘‘trolls.’’ 

18 (2) On November 24, 2016, the Washington 

19 Post reported findings from 2 teams of independent 

20 researchers that concluded Russians ‘‘exploited 

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

22 democracy at a particularly vulnerable moment . . . 

23 as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing dis24 trust in U.S. democracy and its leaders.’’. 


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1 (3) Findings from a 2017 study on the manipu2 lation of public opinion through social media con3 ducted by the Computational Propaganda Research 

4 Project at the Oxford Internet Institute found that 

5 the Kremlin is using pro-Russian bots to manipulate 

6 public discourse to a highly targeted audience. With 

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

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

9 propaganda constituted 40 percent of the sampled 

10 election-related tweets that went to Pennsylvanians, 

11 34 percent to Michigan voters, and 30 percent to 

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

13 reached 42 percent in Missouri, 41 percent in Flor14 ida, 40 percent in North Carolina, 38 percent in 

15 Colorado, and 35 percent in Ohio. 

16 (4) On September 6, 2017, the Nation’s largest 

17 social media platform disclosed that between June 

18 2015 and May 2017, Russian entities purchased 

19 $100,000 in political advertisements, publishing 

20 roughly 3,000 ads linked to fake accounts associated 

21 with the Internet Research Agency, a pro-Kremlin 

22 organization. According to the company, the ads 

23 purchased focused ‘‘on amplifying divisive social and 

24 political messages . . .’’. 


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1 (5) In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform 

2 Act became law, establishing disclosure requirements 

3 for political advertisements distributed from a tele4 vision or radio broadcast station or provider of cable 

5 or satellite television. In 2003, the Supreme Court 

6 upheld regulations on electioneering communications 

7 established under the Act, noting that such require8 ments ‘‘provide the electorate with information and 

9 insure that the voters are fully informed about the 

10 person or group who is speaking.’’. 

11 (6) According to a study from Borrell Associ12 ates, in 2016, $1,415,000,000 was spent on online 

13 advertising, more than quadruple the amount in 

14 2012. 

15 (7) The reach of a few large internet plat16 forms—larger than any broadcast, satellite, or cable 

17 provider—has greatly facilitated the scope and effec18 tiveness of disinformation campaigns. For instance, 

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

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

21 By contrast, the largest cable television provider has 

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

23 television provider has 21,000,000 subscribers. And 

24 the most-watched television broadcast in U.S. his25 tory had 118,000,000 viewers. 


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1 (8) The public nature of broadcast television, 

2 radio, and satellite ensures a level of publicity for 

3 any political advertisement. These communications 

4 are accessible to the press, fact-checkers, and polit5 ical opponents; this creates strong disincentives for 

6 a candidate to disseminate materially false, inflam7 matory, or contradictory messages to the public. So8 cial media platforms, in contrast, can target portions 

9 of the electorate with direct, ephemeral advertise10 ments often on the basis of private information the 

11 platform has on individuals, enabling political adver12 tisements that are contradictory, racially or socially 

13 inflammatory, or materially false. 

14 (9) According to comScore, 2 companies own 8 

15 of the 10 most popular smartphone applications as 

16 of June 2017, including the most popular social 

17 media and email services—which deliver information 

18 and news to users without requiring proactivity by 

19 the user. Those same 2 companies accounted for 99 

20 percent of revenue growth from digital advertising in 

21 2016, including 77 percent of gross spending. 79 

22 percent of online Americans—representing 68 per23 cent of all Americans—use the single largest social 

24 network, while 66 percent of these users are most 

25 likely to get their news from that site. 


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1 (10) In its 2006 rulemaking, the Federal Elec2 tion Commission noted that only 18 percent of all 

3 Americans cited the internet as their leading source 

4 of news about the 2004 Presidential election; by con5 trast, the Pew Research Center found that 65 per6 cent of Americans identified an internet-based 

7 source as their leading source of information for the 

8 2016 election. 

9 (11) The Federal Election Commission, the 

10 independent Federal agency charged with protecting 

11 the integrity of the Federal campaign finance proc12 ess by providing transparency and administering 

13 campaign finance laws, has failed to take action to 

14 address online political advertisements. 

15 (12) In testimony before the Senate Select 

16 Committee on Intelligence titled, ‘‘Disinformation: A 

17 Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence 

18 Campaigns,’’ multiple expert witnesses testified that 

19 while the disinformation tactics of foreign adver20 saries have not necessarily changed, social media 

21 services now provide ‘‘platform[s] practically pur22 pose-built for active measures[.]’’ Similarly, as Gen. 

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

24 the National Security Agency, testified, during the 

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


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1 information flow, it would have to do so principally 

2 through its own propaganda outlets or through ac3 tive measures that would generate specific news: 

4 planting of leaflets, inciting of violence, creation of 

5 other false materials and narratives. But the news 

6 itself was hard to manipulate because it would have 

7 required actual control of the organs of media, which 

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

9 because the clear majority of the information on so10 cial media sites is uncurated and there is a rapid 

11 proliferation of information sources and other sites 

12 that can reinforce information, there is an increasing 

13 likelihood that the information available to average 

14 consumers may be inaccurate (whether intentionally 

15 or otherwise) and may be more easily manipulable 

16 than in prior eras.’’. 

17 (13) Current regulations on political advertise18 ments do not provide sufficient transparency to up19 hold the public’s right to be fully informed about po20 litical advertisements made online. 

21 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

22 It is the sense of Congress that— 

23 (1) the dramatic increase in digital political ad24 vertisements, and the growing centrality of online 

25 platforms in the lives of Americans, requires the 


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1 Congress and the Federal Election Commission to 

2 take meaningful action to ensure that laws and reg3 ulations provide the accountability and transparency 

4 that is fundamental to our democracy; 

5 (2) free and fair elections require both trans6 parency and accountability which give the public a 

7 right to know the true sources of funding for polit8 ical advertisements in order to make informed polit9 ical choices and hold elected officials accountable; 

10 and 

11 (3) transparency of funding for political adver12 tisements is essential to enforce other campaign fi13 nance laws, including the prohibition on campaign 

14 spending by foreign nationals. 

15 SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF PUBLIC COMMU16 NICATION. 

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

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

19 30101(22)) is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite commu20 nication’’ and inserting ‘‘satellite, paid internet, or paid 

21 digital communication’’. 

22 (b) TREATMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI23 TURES.—Section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30101) is 

24 amended— 

25 (1) in paragraph (8)(B)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘on broadcasting stations, 

2 or in newspapers, magazines, or similar types of 

3 general public political advertising’’ in clause 

4 (v) and inserting ‘‘in any public communica5 tion’’; 

6 (B) by striking ‘‘broadcasting, newspaper, 

7 magazine, billboard, direct mail, or similar type 

8 of general public communication or political ad9 vertising’’ in clause (ix)(1) and inserting ‘‘pub10 lic communication’’; and 

11 (C) by striking ‘‘but not including the use 

12 of broadcasting, newspapers, magazines, bill13 boards, direct mail, or similar types of general 

14 public communication or political advertising’’ 

15 in clause (x) and inserting ‘‘but not including 

16 use in any public communication’’; and 

17 (2) in paragraph (9)(B)— 

18 (A) by striking clause (i) and inserting the 

19 following: 

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

21 editorial distributed through the facilities 

22 of any broadcasting station or any print, 

23 online, or digital newspaper, magazine, 

24 blog, publication, or periodical, unless such 

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1 ties are owned or controlled by any polit2 ical party, political committee, or can3 didate;’’; and 

4 (B) by striking ‘‘on broadcasting stations, 

5 or in newspapers, magazines, or similar types of 

6 general public political advertising’’ in clause 

7 (iv) and inserting ‘‘in any public communica8 tion’’. 

9 (c) DISCLOSURE AND DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS.— 

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

11 30120) is amended— 

12 (1) by striking ‘‘financing any communication 

13 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga14 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

15 other type of general public political advertising’’ 

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

17 and 

18 (2) by striking ‘‘solicits any contribution 

19 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga20 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

21 other type of general public political advertising’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘solicits any contribution through any 

23 public 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, blog, publica12 tion, or periodical, unless such broad13 casting, 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, 2018. 

19 SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS TO ON20 LINE COMMUNICATIONS. 

21 (a) CLEAR AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER REQUIRE22 MENT.—Subsection (a) of section 318 of the Federal Elec23 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30120(a)) is 

24 amended— 


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

2 it appears in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and in3 serting ‘‘shall state in a clear and conspicuous man4 ner’’; and 

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

6 sentence: ‘‘For purposes of this subsection, a com7 munication does not make a statement in a clear 

8 and conspicuous manner if it is difficult to read or 

9 hear or if the placement is easily overlooked.’’. 

10 (b) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED INTERNET OR

11 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

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

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

14 following new subsection: 

15 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIG16 ITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULES WITH RESPECT TO STATE18 MENTS.—In the case of any qualified internet or 

19 digital communication (as defined in section 

20 304(f)(3)(D)) which is disseminated through a me21 dium in which the provision of all of the information 

22 specified in this section is not possible, the commu23 nication shall, in a clear and conspicuous manner— 

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

25 paid for the communication; and 


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

2 the communication to obtain the remainder of 

3 the information required under this section with 

4 minimal effort and without receiving or viewing 

5 any additional material other than such re6 quired information. 

7 ‘‘(2) SAFE HARBOR FOR DETERMINING CLEAR

8 AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER.—A statement in quali9 fied internet or digital communication (as defined in 

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

11 in a clear and conspicuous manner as provided in 

12 subsection (a) if the communication meets the fol13 lowing requirements: 

14 ‘‘(A) TEXT OR GRAPHIC COMMUNICA15 TIONS.—In the case of a text or graphic com16 munication, the statement— 

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

18 as the majority of the text in the commu19 nication; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) meets the requirements of para21 graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c). 

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

23 case of an audio communication, the statement 

24 is spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible 


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1 manner at the beginning or end of the commu2 nication and lasts at least 3 seconds. 

3 ‘‘(C) VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS.—In the 

4 case of a video communication which also in5 cludes audio, the statement— 

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

7 or the end of the communication; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) is made both in— 

9 ‘‘(I) a written format that meets 

10 the requirements of subparagraph (A) 

11 and appears for at least 4 seconds; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(II) an audible format that 

14 meets the requirements of subpara15 graph (B). 

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

17 case of any other type of communication, the 

18 statement is at least as clear and conspicuous 

19 as the statement specified in subparagraphs 

20 (A), (B), or (C).’’. 

21 (2) NONAPPLICATION OF CERTAIN EXCEP22 TIONS.—The exceptions provided in section 

23 110.11(f)(1)(i) and (ii) of title 11, Code of Federal 

24 Regulations, or any successor to such rules, shall 

25 have no application to qualified internet or digital 


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

2 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971). 

3 (c) MODIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

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

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

6 (1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 

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

9 audio format’’; and 

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

11 and inserting ‘‘AUDIO FORMAT’’; 

12 (2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 

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

15 video format’’; and 

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

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

18 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘transmitted through radio 

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

21 video format’’; and 

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

23 second sentence and inserting ‘‘in video for24 mat’’. 


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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.—An online platform shall maintain, 

11 and make available for online public inspection 

12 in machine readable format, a complete record 

13 of any request to purchase on such online plat14 form a qualified political advertisement which is 

15 made by a person whose aggregate requests to 

16 purchase qualified political advertisements on 

17 such online platform during the calendar year 

18 exceeds $500. 

19 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR ADVER20 TISERS.—Any person who requests to purchase 

21 a qualified political advertisement on an online 

22 platform shall provide the online platform with 

23 such information as is necessary for the online 

24 platform to comply with the requirements of 

25 subparagraph (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 targeted 

6 by the advertisement, the number of views gen7 erated 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 average rate charged for the 

12 advertisement; 

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

14 which the advertisement refers and the of15 fice to which the candidate is seeking elec16 tion, the election to which the advertise17 ment refers, or the national legislative 

18 issue to which the advertisement refers (as 

19 applicable); 

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

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

22 of the candidate, the authorized committee 

23 of the candidate, and the treasurer of such 

24 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, address, and phone number of a 

5 contact person for such person, and a list 

6 of the chief executive officers or members 

7 of the executive committee or of the board 

8 of directors of such person. 

9 ‘‘(3) ONLINE PLATFORM.—For purposes of this 

10 subsection, the term ‘online platform’ means any 

11 public-facing website, web application, or digital ap12 plication (including a social network, ad network, or 

13 search engine) which— 

14 ‘‘(A) sells qualified political advertise15 ments; and 

16 ‘‘(B) has 50,000,000 or more unique 

17 monthly United States visitors or users for a 

18 majority of months during the preceding 12 

19 months. 

20 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.— 

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

22 subsection, the term ‘qualified political adver23 tisement’ means any advertisement (including 

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1 ments, video advertisements, native advertise2 ments, and sponsorships) that— 

3 ‘‘(i) is made by or on behalf of a can4 didate; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) communicates a message relating 

6 to any political matter of national impor7 tance, including— 

8 ‘‘(I) a candidate; 

9 ‘‘(II) any election to Federal of10 fice; or 

11 ‘‘(III) a national legislative issue 

12 of public importance. 

13 ‘‘(5) TIME TO MAINTAIN FILE.—The informa14 tion required under this subsection shall be made 

15 available as soon as possible and shall be retained by 

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

17 years. 

18 ‘‘(6) PENALTIES.—For penalties for failure by 

19 online platforms, and persons requesting to purchase 

20 a qualified political advertisement on online plat21 forms, to comply with the requirements of this sub22 section, see section 309.’’. 

23 (b) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 90 days after the 

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

25 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 (c) 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) Each television or radio broadcast station, pro10 vider of cable or satellite television, or online platform (as 

11 defined in section 304(j)(3)) shall make reasonable efforts 

12 to ensure that communications described in section 318(a) 

13 and made available by such station, provider, or platform 

14 are not purchased by a foreign national, directly or indi15 rectly.’’. 

Æ 


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