Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB486 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 486
5	5	To enhance transparency and accountability for online political advertisements
6	6	by requiring those who purchase and publish such ads to disclose infor-
7	7	mation about the advertisements to the public, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	FEBRUARY16, 2023
10	10	Ms. K
11	11	LOBUCHAR(for herself, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mr. WARNER) introduced the
12	12	following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
13	13	Rules and Administration
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To enhance transparency and accountability for online polit-
16	16	ical advertisements by requiring those who purchase and
17	17	publish such ads to disclose information about the adver-
18	18	tisements to the public, and for other purposes.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honest Ads Act’’. 4
23	23	SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 5
24	24	The purpose of this subtitle is to enhance the integ-6
25	25	rity of American democracy and national security by im-7
26	26	proving disclosure requirements for online political adver-8
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29	29	•S 486 IS
30	30	tisements in order to uphold the Supreme Court’s well- 1
31	31	established standard that the electorate bears the right to 2
32	32	be fully informed. 3
33	33	SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 4
34	34	Congress makes the following findings: 5
35	35	(1) In 2002, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform 6
36	36	Act of 2002 (Public Law 107–155) became law, es-7
37	37	tablishing disclosure requirements for political adver-8
38	38	tisements distributed from a television or radio 9
39	39	broadcast station or provider of cable or satellite tel-10
40	40	evision. In 2003, the Supreme Court upheld regula-11
41	41	tions on electioneering communications established 12
42	42	under the Act, noting that such requirements ‘‘pro-13
43	43	vide the electorate with information and insure that 14
44	44	the voters are fully informed about the person or 15
45	45	group who is speaking.’’ The Court reaffirmed this 16
46	46	conclusion in 2010 by an 8–1 vote. 17
47	47	(2) In its 2006 rulemaking, the Federal Elec-18
48	48	tion Commission, the independent Federal agency 19
49	49	charged with protecting the integrity of the Federal 20
50	50	campaign finance process, noted that 18 percent of 21
51	51	all Americans cited the internet as their leading 22
52	52	source of news about the 2004 Presidential election. 23
53	53	By contrast, Gallup and the Knight Foundation 24
54	54	found in 2020 that the majority of Americans, 58 25
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58	58	percent, got most of their news about elections on-1
59	59	line. 2
60	60	(3) According to studies from AdImpact and 3
61	61	Borrell Associates, in 2020, an estimated 4
62	62	$1,700,000,000 was spent on online political adver-5
63	63	tising, more than 10 times the amount spent in 6
64	64	2012. 7
65	65	(4) In order to enhance transparency of all po-8
66	66	litical advertisement funding, it is prudent to extend 9
67	67	to online internet platforms the same types of polit-10
68	68	ical advertisement disclosure requirements applicable 11
69	69	to broadcast television and radio stations, and pro-12
70	70	viders of cable and satellite television. 13
71	71	(5) Effective and complete transparency for vot-14
72	72	ers must include information about the true and 15
73	73	original source of money given, transferred, and 16
74	74	spent on political advertisements made online. 17
75	75	(6) Requiring the disclosure of this information 18
76	76	is a necessary and narrowly tailored means to in-19
77	77	form the voting public of who is behind digital ad-20
78	78	vertising disseminated to influence their votes and to 21
79	79	enable the Federal Election Commission and the De-22
80	80	partment of Justice to detect and prosecute illegal 23
81	81	foreign spending on local, State, and Federal elec-24
82	82	tions and other campaign finance violations. 25
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86	86	(7) Paid advertising on large online platforms is 1
87	87	different from advertising placed on other common 2
88	88	media in terms of the comparatively low cost of 3
89	89	reaching large numbers of people, the availability of 4
90	90	sophisticated microtargeting, and the ease with 5
91	91	which online advertisers, particularly those located 6
92	92	outside the United States, can evade disclosure re-7
93	93	quirements. Requiring large online platforms to 8
94	94	maintain public files of information about the online 9
95	95	political ads they disseminate is the best and least 10
96	96	restrictive means to ensure the voting public has 11
97	97	complete information about who is trying to influ-12
98	98	ence their votes and to aid enforcement of other 13
99	99	laws, including the prohibition on foreign money in 14
100	100	domestic campaigns. 15
101	101	(8) The reach of a few large internet plat-16
102	102	forms—larger than any broadcast, satellite, or cable 17
103	103	provider—has greatly facilitated the scope and effec-18
104	104	tiveness of disinformation campaigns. For instance, 19
105	105	the largest platform has over 247,000,000 American 20
106	106	users—over 153,000,000 of them on a daily basis. 21
107	107	By contrast, the largest cable television provider has 22
108	108	16,142,000 subscribers, while the largest satellite 23
109	109	television provider has 13,300,000 subscribers. And 24
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113	113	the most-watched television broadcast in United 1
114	114	States history had 118,000,000 viewers. 2
115	115	(9) The public nature of broadcast television, 3
116	116	radio, and satellite ensures a level of publicity for 4
117	117	any political advertisement. These communications 5
118	118	are accessible to the press, fact-checkers, and polit-6
119	119	ical opponents. This creates strong disincentives for 7
120	120	a candidate to disseminate materially false, inflam-8
121	121	matory, or contradictory messages to the public. So-9
122	122	cial media platforms, in contrast, can target portions 10
123	123	of the electorate with direct, ephemeral advertise-11
124	124	ments often on the basis of private information the 12
125	125	platform has on individuals, enabling political adver-13
126	126	tisements that are contradictory, racially or socially 14
127	127	inflammatory, or materially false. 15
128	128	(10) Large social media platforms are the only 16
129	129	entities in possession of certain key data related to 17
130	130	paid online ads, including the exact audience tar-18
131	131	geted by those ads and their number of impressions. 19
132	132	Such information, which cannot be reliably disclosed 20
133	133	by the purchasers of ads, is extremely useful for in-21
134	134	forming the electorate, guarding against corruption, 22
135	135	and aiding in the enforcement of existing campaign 23
136	136	finance regulations. 24
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140	140	(11) Paid advertisements on social media plat-1
141	141	forms have served as critical tools for foreign online 2
142	142	influence campaigns—even those that rely on large 3
143	143	amounts of unpaid content—because such ads allow 4
144	144	foreign actors to test the effectiveness of different 5
145	145	messages, expose their messages to audiences who 6
146	146	have not sought out such content, and recruit audi-7
147	147	ences for future campaigns and posts. 8
148	148	(12) A 2019 Senate Select Committee on 9
149	149	Intelligence’s Report on Russian Active Measures 10
150	150	Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elec-11
151	151	tion Volume 2: Russia’s Use of Social Media with 12
152	152	Additional Views, the Committee recommended 13
153	153	‘‘that Congress examine legislative approaches to en-14
154	154	suring Americans know the sources of online polit-15
155	155	ical advertisements. The Federal Election Campaign 16
156	156	Act of 1971 requires political advertisements on tele-17
157	157	vision, radio and satellite to disclose the sponsor of 18
158	158	the advertisement. The same requirements should 19
159	159	apply online. This will also help to ensure that the 20
160	160	IRA or any similarly situated actors cannot use paid 21
161	161	advertisements for purposes of foreign inter-22
162	162	ference.’’. 23
163	163	(13) On March 16, 2021, the Office of the Di-24
164	164	rector of National Intelligence released the declas-25
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168	168	sified Intelligence Community assessment of foreign 1
169	169	threats to the 2020 U.S. Federal elections. The de-2
170	170	classified report found: ‘‘Throughout the election 3
171	171	cycle, Russia’s online influence actors sought to af-4
172	172	fect U.S. public perceptions of the candidates, as 5
173	173	well as advance Moscow’s longstanding goals of un-6
174	174	dermining confidence in U.S. election processes and 7
175	175	increasing sociopolitical divisions among the Amer-8
176	176	ican people.’’ The report also determined that Iran 9
177	177	sought to influence the election by ‘‘creating and 10
178	178	amplifying social media content that criticized [can-11
179	179	didates].’’ 12
180	180	(14) According to a Wall Street Journal report 13
181	181	in April 2021, voluntary ad libraries operated by 14
182	182	major platforms rely on foreign governments to self- 15
183	183	report political ad purchases. These ad-buys, includ-16
184	184	ing those diminishing major human rights violations 17
185	185	like the Uighur genocide, are under-reported by for-18
186	186	eign government purchasers, with no substantial 19
187	187	oversight or repercussions from the platforms. 20
188	188	(15) Multiple reports have indicated that online 21
189	189	ads have become a key vector for strategic influence 22
190	190	by the People’s Republic of China. An April 2021 23
191	191	Wall Street Journal report noted that the Chinese 24
192	192	Government and Chinese State-owned enterprises 25
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196	196	are major purchasers of ads on the U.S.’s largest so-1
197	197	cial media platform, including to advance Chinese 2
198	198	propaganda. 3
199	199	(16) Large online platforms have made changes 4
200	200	to their policies intended to make it harder for for-5
201	201	eign actors to purchase political ads. However, these 6
202	202	private actions have not been taken by all platforms, 7
203	203	have not been reliably enforced, and are subject to 8
204	204	immediate change at the discretion of the platforms. 9
205	205	(17) The Federal Election Commission’s cur-10
206	206	rent regulations on political advertisements do not 11
207	207	provide sufficient transparency to uphold the 12
208	208	public’s right to be fully informed about political ad-13
209	209	vertisements made online. 14
210	210	SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 15
211	211	It is the sense of Congress that— 16
212	212	(1) the dramatic increase in digital political ad-17
213	213	vertisements, and the growing centrality of online 18
214	214	platforms in the lives of Americans, requires the 19
215	215	Congress and the Federal Election Commission to 20
216	216	take meaningful action to ensure that laws and reg-21
217	217	ulations provide the accountability and transparency 22
218	218	that is fundamental to our democracy; 23
219	219	(2) free and fair elections require both trans-24
220	220	parency and accountability which give the public a 25
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224	224	right to know the true sources of funding for polit-1
225	225	ical advertisements, be they foreign or domestic, in 2
226	226	order to make informed political choices and hold 3
227	227	elected officials accountable; and 4
228	228	(3) transparency of funding for political adver-5
229	229	tisements is essential to enforce other campaign fi-6
230	230	nance laws, including the prohibition on campaign 7
231	231	spending by foreign nationals. 8
232	232	SEC. 5. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF PUBLIC COMMU-9
233	233	NICATION. 10
234	234	(a) I
235	235	NGENERAL.—Paragraph (22) of section 301 of 11
236	236	the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 12
237	237	30101(22)) is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite commu-13
238	238	nication’’ and inserting ‘‘satellite, paid internet, or paid 14
239	239	digital communication’’. 15
240	240	(b) T
241	241	REATMENT OFCONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDI-16
242	242	TURES.—Section 301 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30101) is 17
243	243	amended— 18
244	244	(1) in paragraph (8)(B)(v), by striking ‘‘on 19
245	245	broadcasting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 20
246	246	or similar types of general public political adver-21
247	247	tising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public communica-22
248	248	tion’’; and 23
249	249	(2) in paragraph (9)(B)— 24
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253	253	(A) by amending clause (i) to read as fol-1
254	254	lows: 2
255	255	‘‘(i) any news story, commentary, or 3
256	256	editorial distributed through the facilities 4
257	257	of any broadcasting station or any print, 5
258	258	online, or digital newspaper, magazine, 6
259	259	publication, periodical, blog, or platform, 7
260	260	unless such broadcasting, print, online, or 8
261	261	digital facilities are owned or controlled by 9
262	262	any political party, political committee, or 10
263	263	candidate;’’; and 11
264	264	(B) in clause (iv), by striking ‘‘on broad-12
265	265	casting stations, or in newspapers, magazines, 13
266	266	or similar types of general public political ad-14
267	267	vertising’’ and inserting ‘‘in any public commu-15
268	268	nication’’. 16
269	269	(c) D
270	270	ISCLOSURE AND DISCLAIMERSTATEMENTS.— 17
271	271	Subsection (a) of section 318 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 18
272	272	30120) is amended— 19
273	273	(1) by striking ‘‘financing any communication 20
274	274	through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga-21
275	275	zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 22
276	276	other type of general public political advertising’’ 23
277	277	and inserting ‘‘financing any public communication’’; 24
278	278	and 25
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282	282	(2) by striking ‘‘solicits any contribution 1
283	283	through any broadcasting station, newspaper, maga-2
284	284	zine, outdoor advertising facility, mailing, or any 3
285	285	other type of general public political advertising’’ 4
286	286	and inserting ‘‘solicits any contribution through any 5
287	287	public communication’’. 6
288	288	(d) E
289	289	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 7
290	290	this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 8
291	291	of this Act and shall take effect without regard to whether 9
292	292	or not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 10
293	293	the final regulations necessary to carry out this part and 11
294	294	the amendments made by this part by the deadline set 12
295	295	forth in subsection (e). 13
296	296	(e) R
297	297	EGULATION.—Not later than 1 year after the 14
298	298	date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election 15
299	299	Commission shall promulgate regulations on what con-16
300	300	stitutes a paid internet or paid digital communication for 17
301	301	purposes of paragraph (22) of section 301 of the Federal 18
302	302	Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(22)), 19
303	303	as amended by subsection (a), except that such regulation 20
304	304	shall not define a paid internet or paid digital communica-21
305	305	tion to include communications for which the only pay-22
306	306	ment consists of internal resources, such as employee com-23
307	307	pensation, of the entity paying for the communication. 24
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311	311	SEC. 6. EXPANSION OF DEFINITION OF ELECTIONEERING 1
312	312	COMMUNICATION. 2
313	313	(a) E
314	314	XPANSION TOONLINECOMMUNICATIONS.— 3
315	315	(1) A
316	316	PPLICATION TO QUALIFIED INTERNET AND 4
317	317	DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS .— 5
318	318	(A) I
319	319	N GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of 6
320	320	section 304(f)(3) of the Federal Election Cam-7
321	321	paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)(3)(A)) 8
322	322	is amended by striking ‘‘or satellite communica-9
323	323	tion’’ each place it appears in clauses (i) and 10
324	324	(ii) and inserting ‘‘satellite, or qualified internet 11
325	325	or digital communication’’. 12
326	326	(B) Q
327	327	UALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL 13
328	328	COMMUNICATION.—Paragraph (3) of section 14
329	329	304(f) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 30104(f)) is 15
330	330	amended by adding at the end the following 16
331	331	new subparagraph: 17
332	332	‘‘(D) Q
333	333	UALIFIED INTERNET OR DIGITAL 18
334	334	COMMUNICATION.—The term ‘qualified internet 19
335	335	or digital communication’ means any commu-20
336	336	nication which is placed or promoted for a fee 21
337	337	on an online platform (as defined in subsection 22
338	338	(j)(3)).’’. 23
339	339	(2) N
340	340	ONAPPLICATION OF RELEVANT ELEC -24
341	341	TORATE TO ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS .—Section 25
342	342	304(f)(3)(A)(i)(III) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 26
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346	346	30104(f)(3)(A)(i)(III)) is amended by inserting ‘‘any 1
347	347	broadcast, cable, or satellite’’ before ‘‘communica-2
348	348	tion’’. 3
349	349	(3) N
350	350	EWS EXEMPTION .—Section 4
351	351	304(f)(3)(B)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 5
352	352	30104(f)(3)(B)(i)) is amended to read as follows: 6
353	353	‘‘(i) a communication appearing in a 7
354	354	news story, commentary, or editorial dis-8
355	355	tributed through the facilities of any 9
356	356	broadcasting station or any online or dig-10
357	357	ital newspaper, magazine, publication, peri-11
358	358	odical, blog, or platform, unless such 12
359	359	broadcasting, online, or digital facilities are 13
360	360	owned or controlled by any political party, 14
361	361	political committee, or candidate;’’. 15
362	362	(b) E
363	363	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 16
364	364	this section shall apply with respect to communications 17
365	365	made on or after January 1, 2024, and shall take effect 18
366	366	without regard to whether or not the Federal Election 19
367	367	Commission has promulgated regulations to carry out 20
368	368	such amendments. 21
369	369	SEC. 7. APPLICATION OF DISCLAIMER STATEMENTS TO ON-22
370	370	LINE COMMUNICATIONS. 23
371	371	(a) C
372	372	LEAR ANDCONSPICUOUSMANNERREQUIRE-24
373	373	MENT.—Subsection (a) of section 318 of the Federal Elec-25
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376	376	•S 486 IS
377	377	tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30120(a)) is 1
378	378	amended— 2
379	379	(1) by striking ‘‘shall clearly state’’ each place 3
380	380	it appears in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) and in-4
381	381	serting ‘‘shall state in a clear and conspicuous man-5
382	382	ner’’; and 6
383	383	(2) by adding at the end the following flush 7
384	384	sentence: ‘‘For purposes of this section, a commu-8
385	385	nication does not make a statement in a clear and 9
386	386	conspicuous manner if it is difficult to read or hear 10
387	387	or if the placement is easily overlooked.’’. 11
388	388	(b) S
389	389	PECIALRULES FORQUALIFIEDINTERNET OR 12
390	390	D
391	391	IGITALCOMMUNICATIONS.— 13
392	392	(1) I
393	393	N GENERAL.—Section 318 of such Act (52 14
394	394	U.S.C. 30120) is amended by adding at the end the 15
395	395	following new subsection: 16
396	396	‘‘(e) S
397	397	PECIALRULES FORQUALIFIEDINTERNET OR 17
398	398	D
399	399	IGITALCOMMUNICATIONS.— 18
400	400	‘‘(1) S
401	401	PECIAL RULES WITH RESPECT TO STATE -19
402	402	MENTS.—In the case of any qualified internet or 20
403	403	digital communication (as defined in section 21
404	404	304(f)(3)(D)) which is disseminated through a me-22
405	405	dium in which the provision of all of the information 23
406	406	specified in this section is not possible, the commu-24
407	407	nication shall, in a clear and conspicuous manner— 25
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411	411	‘‘(A) state the name of the person who 1
412	412	paid for the communication; and 2
413	413	‘‘(B) provide a means for the recipient of 3
414	414	the communication to obtain the remainder of 4
415	415	the information required under this section with 5
416	416	minimal effort and without receiving or viewing 6
417	417	any additional material other than such re-7
418	418	quired information. 8
419	419	‘‘(2) S
420	420	AFE HARBOR FOR DETERMINING CLEAR 9
421	421	AND CONSPICUOUS MANNER .—A statement in quali-10
422	422	fied internet or digital communication (as defined in 11
423	423	section 304(f)(3)(D)) shall be considered to be made 12
424	424	in a clear and conspicuous manner as provided in 13
425	425	subsection (a) if the communication meets the fol-14
426	426	lowing requirements: 15
427	427	‘‘(A) T
428	428	EXT OR GRAPHIC COMMUNICA -16
429	429	TIONS.—In the case of a text or graphic com-17
430	430	munication, the statement— 18
431	431	‘‘(i) appears in letters at least as large 19
432	432	as the majority of the text in the commu-20
433	433	nication; and 21
434	434	‘‘(ii) meets the requirements of para-22
435	435	graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c). 23
436	436	‘‘(B) A
437	437	UDIO COMMUNICATIONS .—In the 24
438	438	case of an audio communication, the statement 25
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441	441	•S 486 IS
442	442	is spoken in a clearly audible and intelligible 1
443	443	manner at the beginning or end of the commu-2
444	444	nication and lasts at least 3 seconds. 3
445	445	‘‘(C) V
446	446	IDEO COMMUNICATIONS .—In the 4
447	447	case of a video communication which also in-5
448	448	cludes audio, the statement— 6
449	449	‘‘(i) is included at either the beginning 7
450	450	or the end of the communication; and 8
451	451	‘‘(ii) is made both in— 9
452	452	‘‘(I) a written format that meets 10
453	453	the requirements of subparagraph (A) 11
454	454	and appears for at least 4 seconds; 12
455	455	and 13
456	456	‘‘(II) an audible format that 14
457	457	meets the requirements of subpara-15
458	458	graph (B). 16
459	459	‘‘(D) O
460	460	THER COMMUNICATIONS .—In the 17
461	461	case of any other type of communication, the 18
462	462	statement is at least as clear and conspicuous 19
463	463	as the statement specified in subparagraph (A), 20
464	464	(B), or (C).’’. 21
465	465	(2) N
466	466	ONAPPLICATION OF CERTAIN EXCEP -22
467	467	TIONS.—The exceptions provided in section 23
468	468	110.11(f)(1)(i) and (ii) of title 11, Code of Federal 24
469	469	Regulations, or any successor to such rules, shall 25
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472	472	•S 486 IS
473	473	have no application to qualified internet or digital 1
474	474	communications (as defined in section 304(f)(3)(D) 2
475	475	of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971). 3
476	476	(c) M
477	477	ODIFICATION OFADDITIONALREQUIREMENTS 4
478	478	FORCERTAINCOMMUNICATIONS.—Section 318(d) of such 5
479	479	Act (52 U.S.C. 30120(d)) is amended— 6
480	480	(1) in paragraph (1)(A)— 7
481	481	(A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 8
482	482	through radio’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in an 9
483	483	audio format’’; and 10
484	484	(B) by striking ‘‘B
485	485	Y RADIO’’ in the heading 11
486	486	and inserting ‘‘A
487	487	UDIO FORMAT’’; 12
488	488	(2) in paragraph (1)(B)— 13
489	489	(A) by striking ‘‘which is transmitted 14
490	490	through television’’ and inserting ‘‘which is in 15
491	491	video format’’; and 16
492	492	(B) by striking ‘‘B
493	493	Y TELEVISION’’ in the 17
494	494	heading and inserting ‘‘V
495	495	IDEO FORMAT’’; and 18
496	496	(3) in paragraph (2)— 19
497	497	(A) by striking ‘‘transmitted through radio 20
498	498	or television’’ and inserting ‘‘made in audio or 21
499	499	video format’’; and 22
500	500	(B) by striking ‘‘through television’’ in the 23
501	501	second sentence and inserting ‘‘in video for-24
502	502	mat’’. 25
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505	505	•S 486 IS
506	506	(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 1
507	507	subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enact-2
508	508	ment of this Act and shall take effect without regard to 3
509	509	whether or not the Federal Election Commission has pro-4
510	510	mulgated regulations to carry out such amendments. 5
511	511	SEC. 8. POLITICAL RECORD REQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE 6
512	512	PLATFORMS. 7
513	513	(a) I
514	514	NGENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal Elec-8
515	515	tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104) is amended 9
516	516	by adding at the end the following new subsection: 10
517	517	‘‘(j) D
518	518	ISCLOSURE OFCERTAINONLINEADVERTISE-11
519	519	MENTS.— 12
520	520	‘‘(1) I
521	521	N GENERAL.— 13
522	522	‘‘(A) R
523	523	EQUIREMENTS FOR ONLINE PLAT -14
524	524	FORMS.— 15
525	525	‘‘(i) I
526	526	N GENERAL.—An online plat-16
527	527	form shall maintain, and make available 17
528	528	for online public inspection in machine 18
529	529	readable format, a complete record of any 19
530	530	qualified political advertisement which is 20
531	531	purchased by a person whose aggregate 21
532	532	purchases of qualified political advertise-22
533	533	ments on such online platform during the 23
534	534	calendar year exceeds $500. 24
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537	537	•S 486 IS
538	538	‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT RELATING TO PO -1
539	539	LITICAL ADS SOLD BY THIRD PARTY AD -2
540	540	VERTISING VENDORS.—An online platform 3
541	541	that displays a qualified political advertise-4
542	542	ment sold by a third party advertising ven-5
543	543	dor shall include on its own platform— 6
544	544	‘‘(I) an easily accessible and 7
545	545	identifiable link to the records main-8
546	546	tained by the third-party advertising 9
547	547	vendor under clause (i) regarding 10
548	548	such qualified political advertisement; 11
549	549	or 12
550	550	‘‘(II) in any case in which the 13
551	551	third party advertising vendor does 14
552	552	not make such records available, a 15
553	553	statement that no records from the 16
554	554	third party advertising vendors 17
555	555	records are available. 18
556	556	‘‘(B) R
557	557	EQUIREMENTS FOR ADVER -19
558	558	TISERS.—Any person who purchases a qualified 20
559	559	political advertisement on an online platform 21
560	560	shall provide the online platform with such in-22
561	561	formation as is necessary for the online plat-23
562	562	form to comply with the requirements of sub-24
563	563	paragraph (A). 25
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566	566	•S 486 IS
567	567	‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF RECORD .—A record main-1
568	568	tained under paragraph (1)(A) shall contain— 2
569	569	‘‘(A) a digital copy of the qualified political 3
570	570	advertisement; 4
571	571	‘‘(B) a description of the audience that re-5
572	572	ceived the advertisement, the number of views 6
573	573	generated from the advertisement, and the date 7
574	574	and time that the advertisement is first dis-8
575	575	played and last displayed; and 9
576	576	‘‘(C) information regarding— 10
577	577	‘‘(i) the total cost of the advertise-11
578	578	ment (which may be rounded to the near-12
579	579	est $100); 13
580	580	‘‘(ii) the name of the candidate to 14
581	581	which the advertisement refers and the of-15
582	582	fice to which the candidate is seeking elec-16
583	583	tion, the election to which the advertise-17
584	584	ment refers, or the national legislative 18
585	585	issue to which the advertisement refers (as 19
586	586	applicable); 20
587	587	‘‘(iii) in the case of a request made 21
588	588	by, or on behalf of, a candidate, the name 22
589	589	of the candidate, the authorized committee 23
590	590	of the candidate, and the treasurer of such 24
591	591	committee; and 25
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594	594	•S 486 IS
595	595	‘‘(iv) in the case of any request not 1
596	596	described in clause (iii), the name of the 2
597	597	person purchasing the advertisement, the 3
598	598	name and address of a contact person for 4
599	599	such person, and a list of the chief execu-5
600	600	tive officers or members of the executive 6
601	601	committee or of the board of directors of 7
602	602	such person. 8
603	603	‘‘(3) O
604	604	NLINE PLATFORM.— 9
605	605	‘‘(A) I
606	606	N GENERAL.—For purposes of this 10
607	607	subsection, subject to subparagraph (B), the 11
608	608	term ‘online platform’ means any public-facing 12
609	609	website, web application, or digital application 13
610	610	(including a social network, ad network, or 14
611	611	search engine) which— 15
612	612	‘‘(i)(I) sells qualified political adver-16
613	613	tisements; and 17
614	614	‘‘(II) has 50,000,000 or more unique 18
615	615	monthly United States visitors or users for 19
616	616	a majority of months during the preceding 20
617	617	12 months; or 21
618	618	‘‘(ii) is a third-party advertising ven-22
619	619	dor that has 50,000,000 or more unique 23
620	620	monthly United States visitors in the ag-24
621	621	gregate on any advertisement space that it 25
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624	624	•S 486 IS
625	625	has sold or bought for a majority of 1
626	626	months during the preceding 12 months, 2
627	627	as measured by an independent digital rat-3
628	628	ings service accredited by the Media Rat-4
629	629	ings Council (or its successor). 5
630	630	‘‘(B) E
631	631	XEMPTION.—Such term shall not 6
632	632	include any online platform that is a distribu-7
633	633	tion facility of any broadcasting station or 8
634	634	newspaper, magazine, blog, publication, or peri-9
635	635	odical. 10
636	636	‘‘(C) T
637	637	HIRD-PARTY ADVERTISING VENDOR 11
638	638	DEFINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the 12
639	639	term ‘third-party advertising vendor’ includes 13
640	640	any third-party advertising vendor network, ad-14
641	641	vertising agency, advertiser, or third-party ad-15
642	642	vertisement serving company that buys and 16
643	643	sells advertisement space on behalf of unaffili-17
644	644	ated third-party websites, search engines, dig-18
645	645	ital applications, or social media sites. 19
646	646	‘‘(4) Q
647	647	UALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT .— 20
648	648	For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘qualified 21
649	649	political advertisement’ means any advertisement 22
650	650	(including search engine marketing, display adver-23
651	651	tisements, video advertisements, native advertise-24
652	652	ments, and sponsorships) that— 25
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655	655	•S 486 IS
656	656	‘‘(A) is made by or on behalf of a can-1
657	657	didate; or 2
658	658	‘‘(B) communicates a message relating to 3
659	659	any political matter of national importance, in-4
660	660	cluding— 5
661	661	‘‘(i) a candidate; 6
662	662	‘‘(ii) any election to Federal office; or 7
663	663	‘‘(iii) a national legislative issue of 8
664	664	public importance. 9
665	665	‘‘(5) T
666	666	IME TO MAINTAIN FILE .—The informa-10
667	667	tion required under this subsection shall be made 11
668	668	available as soon as possible and shall be retained by 12
669	669	the online platform for a period of not less than 4 13
670	670	years. 14
671	671	‘‘(6) S
672	672	PECIAL RULE.—For purposes of this sub-15
673	673	section, multiple versions of an advertisement that 16
674	674	contain no material differences (such as versions 17
675	675	that differ only because they contain a recipient’s 18
676	676	name, or differ only in size, color, font, or layout) 19
677	677	may be treated as a single qualified political adver-20
678	678	tisement. 21
679	679	‘‘(7) P
680	680	ENALTIES.—For penalties for failure by 22
681	681	online platforms, and persons requesting to purchase 23
682	682	a qualified political advertisement on online plat-24
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684	684	pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 24
685	685	•S 486 IS
686	686	forms, to comply with the requirements of this sub-1
687	687	section, see section 309.’’. 2
688	688	(b) E
689	689	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 3
690	690	this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 4
691	691	of this Act and shall take effect without regard to whether 5
692	692	or not the Federal Election Commission has promulgated 6
693	693	the final regulations necessary to carry out this part and 7
694	694	the amendments made by this part by the deadline set 8
695	695	forth in subsection (c). 9
696	696	(c) R
697	697	ULEMAKING.—Not later than 120 days after the 10
698	698	date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Election 11
699	699	Commission shall establish rules— 12
700	700	(1) for determining whether an advertisement 13
701	701	communicates a national legislative issue for pur-14
702	702	poses of section 304(j) of the Federal Election Cam-15
703	703	paign Act of 1971 (as added by subsection (a)); 16
704	704	(2) requiring common data formats for the 17
705	705	record required to be maintained under such section 18
706	706	304(j) so that all online platforms submit and main-19
707	707	tain data online in a common, machine-readable and 20
708	708	publicly accessible format; and 21
709	709	(3) establishing search interface requirements 22
710	710	relating to such record, including searches by can-23
711	711	didate name, issue, purchaser, and date. 24
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714	714	•S 486 IS
715	715	(d) REPORTING.—Not later than 2 years after the 1
716	716	date of the enactment of this Act, and biannually there-2
717	717	after, the Chairman of the Federal Election Commission 3
718	718	shall submit a report to Congress on— 4
719	719	(1) matters relating to compliance with and the 5
720	720	enforcement of the requirements of section 304(j) of 6
721	721	the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as 7
722	722	added by subsection (a); 8
723	723	(2) recommendations for any modifications to 9
724	724	such section to assist in carrying out its purposes; 10
725	725	and 11
726	726	(3) identifying ways to bring transparency and 12
727	727	accountability to political advertisements distributed 13
728	728	online for free. 14
729	729	SEC. 9. PREVENTING CONTRIBUTIONS, EXPENDITURES, 15
730	730	INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES, AND DIS-16
731	731	BURSEMENTS FOR ELECTIONEERING COM-17
732	732	MUNICATIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN 18
733	733	THE FORM OF ONLINE ADVERTISING. 19
734	734	Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 20
735	735	of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121) is amended by adding at the 21
736	736	end the following new subsection: 22
737	737	‘‘(c) R
738	738	ESPONSIBILITIES OF BROADCASTSTATIONS, 23
739	739	P
740	740	ROVIDERS OFCABLE ANDSATELLITETELEVISION, AND 24
741	741	O
742	742	NLINEPLATFORMS.— 25
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745	745	•S 486 IS
746	746	‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each television or radio 1
747	747	broadcast station, provider of cable or satellite tele-2
748	748	vision, or online platform (as defined in section 3
749	749	304(j)(3)) shall make reasonable efforts to ensure 4
750	750	that communications described in section 318(a) and 5
751	751	made available by such station, provider, or platform 6
752	752	are not purchased by a foreign national, directly or 7
753	753	indirectly. 8
754	754	‘‘(2) R
755	755	EGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year 9
756	756	after the date of the enactment of this subsection, 10
757	757	the Commission shall promulgate regulations on 11
758	758	what constitutes reasonable efforts under paragraph 12
759	759	(1).’’. 13
760	760	SEC. 10. REQUIRING ONLINE PLATFORMS TO DISPLAY NO-14
761	761	TICES IDENTIFYING SPONSORS OF POLIT-15
762	762	ICAL ADVERTISEMENTS AND TO ENSURE NO-16
763	763	TICES CONTINUE TO BE PRESENT WHEN AD-17
764	764	VERTISEMENTS ARE SHARED. 18
765	765	(a) I
766	766	NGENERAL.—Section 304 of the Federal Elec-19
767	767	tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104), as amend-20
768	768	ed by section 8(a), is amended by adding at the end the 21
769	769	following new subsection: 22
770	770	‘‘(k) E
771	771	NSURINGDISPLAY ANDSHARING OFSPONSOR 23
772	772	I
773	773	DENTIFICATION IN ONLINEPOLITICALADVERTISE-24
774	774	MENTS.— 25
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777	777	•S 486 IS
778	778	‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Any online platform that 1
779	779	displays a qualified political advertisement (regard-2
780	780	less of whether such qualified political advertisement 3
781	781	was purchased directly from the online platform) 4
782	782	shall— 5
783	783	‘‘(A) display with the advertisement a visi-6
784	784	ble notice identifying the sponsor of the adver-7
785	785	tisement (or, if it is not practical for the plat-8
786	786	form to display such a notice, a notice that the 9
787	787	advertisement is sponsored by a person other 10
788	788	than the platform); and 11
789	789	‘‘(B) ensure that the notice will continue to 12
790	790	be displayed if a viewer of the advertisement 13
791	791	shares the advertisement with others on that 14
792	792	platform. 15
793	793	‘‘(2) S
794	794	AFE HARBOR.—An online platform shall 16
795	795	not be treated as having failed to comply with the 17
796	796	requirements of paragraph (1)(A) for the 18
797	797	misidentification of a person as the sponsor of the 19
798	798	advertisement if— 20
799	799	‘‘(A) the person placing the online adver-21
800	800	tisement designated the person displayed in the 22
801	801	advertisement as the sponsor; and 23
802	802	‘‘(B) the online platform relied on such 24
803	803	designation in good faith. 25
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806	806	•S 486 IS
807	807	‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 1
808	808	‘‘(A) the term ‘online platform’ has the 2
809	809	meaning given such term in subsection (j)(3); 3
810	810	‘‘(B) the term ‘‘qualified political adver-4
811	811	tisement’ has the meaning given such term in 5
812	812	subsection (j)(4); and 6
813	813	‘‘(C) the term ‘sponsor’ means the person 7
814	814	purchasing the advertisement.’’. 8
815	815	(b) E
816	816	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 9
817	817	subsection (a) shall apply with respect to advertisements 10
818	818	displayed on or after the 120–day period which begins on 11
819	819	the date of the enactment of this Act and shall take effect 12
820	820	without regard to whether or not the Federal Election 13
821	821	Commission has promulgated regulations to carry out 14
822	822	such amendments. 15
823	823	Æ
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