Consistent Labeling for Political Ads Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 989 To amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require certain online platforms which display political advertisements to display with the advertisement a notice identifying the sponsor of the advertisement and to ensure that the notice will continue to be presented in the advertisement if a viewer of the advertisement shares the advertisement with others on that platform. 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 certain online platforms which display political advertisements to display with the advertisement a notice identifying the sponsor of the advertisement and to en- sure that the notice will continue to be presented in the advertisement if a viewer of the advertisement shares the advertisement with others on that platform. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H989.IH H989 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 989 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consistent Labeling 2 for Political Ads Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. REQUIRING ONLINE PLATFORMS TO DISPLAY NO- 4 TICES IDENTIFYING SPONSORS OF POLIT- 5 ICAL ADVERTISEMENTS AND TO ENSURE NO- 6 TICES CONTINUE TO BE PRESENT WHEN AD- 7 VERTISEMENTS ARE SHARED. 8 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 304 of the Federal 9 Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30104) is 10 amended by adding at the end the following new sub- 11 section: 12 ‘‘(j) ENSURING DISPLAY AND SHARING OF SPONSOR 13 IDENTIFICATION IN ONLINE POLITICAL ADVERTISE- 14 MENTS.— 15 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.— An online platform dis- 16 playing a qualified political advertisement shall— 17 ‘‘(A) display with the advertisement a visi- 18 ble notice identifying the sponsor of the adver- 19 tisement (or, if it is not practical for the plat- 20 form to display such a notice, a notice that the 21 advertisement is sponsored by a person other 22 than the platform); and 23 ‘‘(B) ensure that the notice will continue to 24 be displayed if a viewer of the advertisement 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H989.IH H989 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 989 IH shares the advertisement with others on that 1 platform. 2 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.— 3 ‘‘(A) ONLINE PLATFORM.—For purposes 4 of this subsection, the term ‘online platform’ 5 means any public-facing website, web applica- 6 tion, or digital application (including a social 7 network, ad network, or search engine) which— 8 ‘‘(i) sells qualified political advertise- 9 ments; and 10 ‘‘(ii) has 50,000,000 or more unique 11 monthly United States visitors or users for 12 a majority of months during the preceding 13 12 months. 14 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISE- 15 MENT.—For purposes of this subsection, the 16 term ‘qualified political advertisement’ means 17 any advertisement (including search engine 18 marketing, display advertisements, video adver- 19 tisements, native advertisements, and sponsor- 20 ships) that— 21 ‘‘(i) is made by or on behalf of a can- 22 didate; or 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H989.IH H989 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 989 IH ‘‘(ii) communicates a message relating 1 to any political matter of national impor- 2 tance, including— 3 ‘‘(I) a candidate; 4 ‘‘(II) any election to Federal of- 5 fice; or 6 ‘‘(III) a national legislative issue 7 of public importance.’’. 8 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 9 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to advertisements 10 displayed on or after the 120-day period which begins on 11 the date of the enactment of this Act. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:14 Mar 06, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H989.IH H989 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS