I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2592 

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2019 

Mr. KILMER (for himself, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. FITZPATRICK, 

Miss RICE of New York, Mr. GALLAGHER, Mr. CRIST, Mr. KATKO, Mr. 

SUOZZI, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. DUFFY, Mr. 

SCHNEIDER, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. COSTA, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. PETERS, Miss GONZA ́LEZ-COLO ́N of Puerto Rico, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. BACON, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. 

STAUBER, Mr. LUJA ́N, and Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House 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’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

2 The purpose of this Act is to enhance the integrity 

3 of American democracy and national security by improving 

4 disclosure requirements for online political advertisements 

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

6 well-established standard that the electorate bears the 

7 right to be fully informed. 

8 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

9 Congress makes the following findings: 

10 (1) On April 18, 2019, Special Counsel Robert 

11 Mueller released a report titled ‘‘Report on the In12 vestigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 

13 Presidential Election’’ which concluded that ‘‘the 

14 Russian government interfered in the 2016 presi15 dential election in sweeping and systemic fashion.’’. 

16 The report details that Russia interfered in the 2016 

17 presidential election principally through two oper18 ations: first, through a Russian government spon19 sored social media influence campaign, and second, 

20 by Russian intelligence ‘‘computer-intrusion’’ oper21 ations against those associated with both presi22 dential campaigns. 

23 (2) On September 6, 2017, the Nation’s largest 

24 social media platform disclosed that between June 

25 2015 and May 2017, Russian entities purchased 

26 $100,000 in political advertisements, publishing 


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1 roughly 3,000 ads linked to fake accounts associated 

2 with the Internet Research Agency, a pro-Kremlin 

3 organization. According to the company, the ads 

4 purchased focused ‘‘on amplifying divisive social and 

5 political messages . . .’’. 

6 (3) In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform 

7 Act became law, establishing disclosure requirements 

8 for political advertisements distributed from a tele9 vision or radio broadcast station or provider of cable 

10 or satellite television. In 2003, the Supreme Court 

11 upheld regulations on electioneering communications 

12 established under the Act, noting that such require13 ments ‘‘provide the electorate with information and 

14 insure that the voters are fully informed about the 

15 person or group who is speaking.’’. 

16 (4) According to a study from Borrell Associ17 ates, in 2016, $1,415,000,000 was spent on online 

18 advertising, more than quadruple the amount in 

19 2012. 

20 (5) The reach of a few large internet plat21 forms—larger than any broadcast, satellite, or cable 

22 provider—has greatly facilitated the scope and effec23 tiveness of disinformation campaigns. For instance, 

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

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


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1 By contrast, the largest cable television provider has 

2 22,430,000 subscribers, while the largest satellite 

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

4 the most-watched television broadcast in U.S. his5 tory had 118,000,000 viewers. 

6 (6) The public nature of broadcast television, 

7 radio, and satellite ensures a level of publicity for 

8 any political advertisement. These communications 

9 are accessible to the press, fact-checkers, and polit10 ical opponents; this creates strong disincentives for 

11 a candidate to disseminate materially false, inflam12 matory, or contradictory messages to the public. So13 cial media platforms, in contrast, can target portions 

14 of the electorate with direct, ephemeral advertise15 ments often on the basis of private information the 

16 platform has on individuals, enabling political adver17 tisements that are contradictory, racially or socially 

18 inflammatory, or materially false. 

19 (7) According to comScore, 2 companies own 8 

20 of the 10 most popular smartphone applications as 

21 of June 2017, including the most popular social 

22 media and email services—which deliver information 

23 and news to users without requiring proactivity by 

24 the user. Those same 2 companies accounted for 99 

25 percent of revenue growth from digital advertising in 


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1 2016, including 77 percent of gross spending. Sev2 enty-nine percent of online Americans—representing 

3 68 percent of all Americans—use the single largest 

4 social network, while 66 percent of these users are 

5 most likely to get their news from that site. 

6 (8) In its 2006 rulemaking, the Federal Elec7 tion Commission noted that only 18 percent of all 

8 Americans cited the internet as their leading source 

9 of news about the 2004 Presidential election; by con10 trast, the Pew Research Center found that 65 per11 cent of Americans identified an internet-based 

12 source as their leading source of information for the 

13 2016 election. 

14 (9) The Federal Election Commission, the inde15 pendent Federal agency charged with protecting the 

16 integrity of the Federal campaign finance process by 

17 providing transparency and administering campaign 

18 finance laws, has failed to take action to address on19 line political advertisements. 

20 (10) In testimony before the Senate Select 

21 Committee on Intelligence titled, ‘‘Disinformation: A 

22 Primer in Russian Active Measures and Influence 

23 Campaigns,’’ multiple expert witnesses testified that 

24 while the disinformation tactics of foreign adver25 saries have not necessarily changed, social media 


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1 services now provide ‘‘platform[s] practically pur2 pose-built for active measures[.]’’ Similarly, as Gen. 

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

4 the National Security Agency, testified, during the 

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

6 information flow, it would have to do so principally 

7 through its own propaganda outlets or through ac8 tive measures that would generate specific news: 

9 planting of leaflets, inciting of violence, creation of 

10 other false materials and narratives. But the news 

11 itself was hard to manipulate because it would have 

12 required actual control of the organs of media, which 

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

14 because the clear majority of the information on so15 cial media sites is uncurated and there is a rapid 

16 proliferation of information sources and other sites 

17 that can reinforce information, there is an increasing 

18 likelihood that the information available to average 

19 consumers may be inaccurate (whether intentionally 

20 or otherwise) and may be more easily manipulable 

21 than in prior eras.’’. 

22 (11) Current regulations on political advertise23 ments do not provide sufficient transparency to up24 hold the public’s right to be fully informed about po25 litical advertisements made online. 


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1 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the dramatic increase in digital political ad4 vertisements, and the growing centrality of online 

5 platforms in the lives of Americans, requires the 

6 Congress and the Federal Election Commission to 

7 take meaningful action to ensure that laws and reg8 ulations provide the accountability and transparency 

9 that is fundamental to our democracy; 

10 (2) free and fair elections require both trans11 parency and accountability which give the public a 

12 right to know the true sources of funding for polit13 ical advertisements in order to make informed polit14 ical choices and hold elected officials accountable; 

15 and 

16 (3) transparency of funding for political adver17 tisements is essential to enforce other campaign fi18 nance laws, including the prohibition on campaign 

19 spending by foreign nationals. 

20 SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF PUBLIC COMMU21 NICATION. 

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

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

24 30101(22)) is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite commu25 nication’’ and inserting ‘‘satellite, paid internet, or paid 

26 digital communication’’. 


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1 (b) TREATMENT OF CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI2 TURES.—Section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30101) is 

3 amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (8)(B)— 

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

6 or in newspapers, magazines, or similar types of 

7 general public political advertising’’ in clause 

8 (v) and inserting ‘‘in any public communica9 tion’’; 

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

11 magazine, billboard, direct mail, or similar type 

12 of general public communication or political ad13 vertising’’ in clause (ix)(1) and inserting ‘‘pub14 lic communication’’; and 

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

16 of broadcasting, newspapers, magazines, bill17 boards, direct mail, or similar types of general 

18 public communication or political advertising’’ 

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

20 use in any public communication’’; and 

21 (2) in paragraph (9)(B)— 

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

23 following: 

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

25 editorial distributed through the facilities 


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1 of any broadcasting station or any print, 

2 online, or digital newspaper, magazine, 

3 blog, publication, or periodical, unless such 

4 broadcasting, print, online, or digital facili5 ties are owned or controlled by any polit6 ical party, political committee, or can7 didate;’’; and 

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

9 or in newspapers, magazines, or similar types of 

10 general public political advertising’’ in clause 

11 (iv) and inserting ‘‘in any public communica12 tion’’. 

13 (c) DISCLOSURE AND DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS.— 

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

15 30120) is amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘financing any communication 

17 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga18 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

19 other type of general public political advertising’’ 

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

21 and 

22 (2) by striking ‘‘solicits any contribution 

23 through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga24 zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 

25 other type of general public political advertising’’ 


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1 and inserting ‘‘solicits any contribution through any 

2 public communication’’. 

3 SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ELECTIONEERING 

4 COMMUNICATION. 

5 (a) EXPANSION TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.— 

6 (1) APPLICATION TO QUALIFIED INTERNET AND

7 DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS.— 

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

9 section 304(f)(3) of the Federal Election Cam10 paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)(3)(A)) 

11 is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite communica12 tion’’ each place it appears in clauses (i) and 

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

14 or digital communication’’. 

15 (B) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL

16 COMMUNICATION.—Paragraph (3) of section 

17 304(f) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)) is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following 

19 new subparagraph: 

20 ‘‘(D) QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL

21 COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘qualified internet 

22 or digital communication’ means any commu23 nication which is placed or promoted for a fee 

24 on an online platform (as defined in subsection 

25 (j)(3)).’’. 


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1 (2) NONAPPLICATION OF RELEVANT ELEC2 TORATE TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS.—Section 

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

4 30104(f)(3)(A)(i)(III)) is amended by inserting ‘‘any 

5 broadcast, cable, or satellite’’ before ‘‘communica6 tion’’. 

7 (3) NEWS EXEMPTION.—Section 

8 304(f)(3)(B)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

9 30104(f)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(i) a communication appearing in a 

11 news story, commentary, or editorial dis12 tributed through the facilities of any 

13 broadcasting station or any online or dig14 ital newspaper, magazine, blog, publica15 tion, or periodical, unless such broad16 casting, online, or digital facilities are 

17 owned or controlled by any political party, 

18 political committee, or candidate;’’. 

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

20 this section shall apply with respect to communications 

21 made on or after January 1, 2020. 

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 06:21 May 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2592.IH H2592

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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 subsection, a com9 munication does not make a statement in a clear 

10 and conspicuous manner if it is difficult to read or 

11 hear 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 QUALIFIED INTERNET OR DIG18 ITAL 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 subparagraphs 

21 (A), (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 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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