FEC Proposes Online Political Ad Regulation
The Federal Election Commission is currently discussing a proposal to regulate online political activity pertaining to federal elections. According to the proposal, the FEC sees the Internet as an ever-evolving and extremely accessible method of communication that requires narrower, targeted regulations. As a result, the proposal leaves most public online political communication unregulated. But, paid online political ads by candidates still fall under campaign finance law, and are subject to the same regulations as other forms of political advertising.
The FEC noted the difference between paid advertising and political blogs: “individuals can build blogs and other websites for free, an individual can communicate with the general public at little or no cost. However, this is not true in the case of paid advertising on another person’s website.” One of the bloggers who addressed the FEC recommended that the FEC create a threshold value to exclude low-cost PPC ads from regulation, citing costs of ads ranging from $10-$20 per week through BlogAds.com. But the FEC also regulates other low-cost ads like late-night radio ads and classifieds in small-circulation papers, and decided not to make an exception.
The drafted proposal extends FEC regulations only to paid online political ads, and won’t affect most online political activity.
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