Block Foreign-Funded Political Ads Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 990 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require broadcasting stations, providers of cable and satellite television, and online platforms to make reasonable efforts to ensure that political advertisements are not purchased by a foreign national. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 11, 2021 Mr. GOLDEN 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 require broadcasting stations, providers of cable and sat- ellite television, and online platforms to make reasonable efforts to ensure that political advertisements are not purchased by a foreign national. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Block Foreign-Funded 4 Political Ads Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:23 Mar 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H990.IH H990 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 990 IH SEC. 2. PREVENTING CONTRIBUTIONS, EXPENDITURES, 1 INDEPENDENT EXPENDITURES, AND DIS- 2 BURSEMENTS FOR ELECTIONEERING COM- 3 MUNICATIONS BY FOREIGN NATIONALS IN 4 THE FORM OF ONLINE ADVERTISING. 5 Section 319 of the Federal Election Campaign Act 6 of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30121) is amended by adding at the 7 end the following new subsection: 8 ‘‘(c) RESPONSIBILITIES OF BROADCAST STATIONS, 9 PROVIDERS OF CABLE AND SATELLITE TELEVISION, AND 10 ONLINE PLATFORMS.— 11 ‘‘(1) RESPONSIBILITIES DESCRIBED.—Each tel- 12 evision or radio broadcast station, provider of cable 13 or satellite television, or online platform shall make 14 reasonable efforts to ensure that communications de- 15 scribed in section 318(a) and made available by such 16 station, provider, or platform are not purchased by 17 a foreign national, directly or indirectly. For pur- 18 poses of the previous sentence, a station, provider, 19 or online platform shall not be considered to have 20 made reasonable efforts under this paragraph in the 21 case of the availability of a communication unless 22 the station, provider, or online platform directly in- 23 quires from the individual or entity making such 24 purchase whether the purchase is to be made by a 25 foreign national, directly or indirectly. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:23 Mar 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H990.IH H990 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 990 IH ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULES FOR DISBURSEMENT PAID 1 WITH CREDIT CARD.—For purposes of paragraph 2 (1), a television or radio broadcast station, provider 3 of cable or satellite television, or online platform 4 shall be considered to have made reasonable efforts 5 under such paragraph in the case of a purchase of 6 the availability of a communication which is made 7 with a credit card if— 8 ‘‘(A) the individual or entity making such 9 purchase is required, at the time of making 10 such purchase, to disclose the credit verification 11 value of such credit card; and 12 ‘‘(B) the billing address associated with 13 such credit card is located in the United States 14 or, in the case of a purchase made by an indi- 15 vidual who is a United States citizen living out- 16 side of the United States, the individual pro- 17 vides the television or radio broadcast station, 18 provider of cable or satellite television, or online 19 platform with the United States mailing ad- 20 dress the individual uses for voter registration 21 purposes. 22 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.— 23 ‘‘(A) ONLINE PLATFORM.—For purposes 24 of this subsection, the term ‘online platform’ 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:23 Mar 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H990.IH H990 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 990 IH means any public-facing website, web applica- 1 tion, or digital application (including a social 2 network, ad network, or search engine) which— 3 ‘‘(i) sells qualified political advertise- 4 ments; and 5 ‘‘(ii) has 50,000,000 or more unique 6 monthly United States visitors or users for 7 a majority of months during the preceding 8 12 months. 9 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISE- 10 MENT.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), the 11 term ‘qualified political advertisement’ means 12 any advertisement (including search engine 13 marketing, display advertisements, video adver- 14 tisements, native advertisements, and sponsor- 15 ships) that— 16 ‘‘(i) is made by or on behalf of a can- 17 didate; or 18 ‘‘(ii) communicates a message relating 19 to any political matter of national impor- 20 tance, including— 21 ‘‘(I) a candidate; 22 ‘‘(II) any election to Federal of- 23 fice; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:23 Mar 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H990.IH H990 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 990 IH ‘‘(III) a national legislative issue 1 of public importance.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:23 Mar 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H990.IH H990 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS