PAID AD Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1962 To prevent foreign adversaries from influencing elections by prohibiting for- eign nationals from purchasing at any time a broadcast, cable, or satellite communication that mentions a clearly identified candidate for Federal office, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 25, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. WARNER, and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To prevent foreign adversaries from influencing elections by prohibiting foreign nationals from purchasing at any time a broadcast, cable, or satellite communication that men- tions a clearly identified candidate for Federal office, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Preventing Adversaries 4 Internationally from Disbursing Advertising Dollars Act’’ 5 or ‘‘PAID AD Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1962 IS SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 1 The purpose of this Act is to protect the integrity 2 of American democracy by expanding the scope of the pro- 3 hibition on political advertising by foreign principals in 4 order to uphold the well-established standard of the 5 United States Supreme Court that foreign nationals may 6 lawfully be excluded from participating in certain electoral 7 activities. 8 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 9 It is the sense of Congress that— 10 (1) the growing threat of malicious interference 11 in our elections by foreign actors requires the Con- 12 gress and the Federal Election Commission to take 13 meaningful action to ensure that laws and regula- 14 tions protect against influence by foreign nationals 15 in activity fundamental to our democracy; 16 (2) the Supreme Court has long held that there 17 is a compelling national interest in preventing for- 18 eign influence in the United States political process 19 and that foreign citizens lack a ‘‘constitutional right 20 to participate in, and thus may be excluded from, 21 activities of democratic self-government’’; and 22 (3) the current prohibition on foreign nationals 23 contributing to political campaigns and advertise- 24 ments must be updated. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1962 IS SEC. 4. MODIFICATIONS TO LIMITATION ON FOREIGN NA- 1 TIONALS. 2 (a) APPLICATION TO OTHER DISBURSEMENTS.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 319(a)(1) of the 4 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 5 30121(a)(1)) is amended— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara- 7 graph (B); and 8 (B) by striking subparagraph (C) and in- 9 serting the following: 10 ‘‘(C) an expenditure; 11 ‘‘(D) an independent expenditure; 12 ‘‘(E) a disbursement for an electioneering 13 communication (within the meaning of section 14 304(f)(3)); 15 ‘‘(F) a disbursement for a paid internet or 16 paid digital communication that refers to a 17 clearly identified candidate for election for Fed- 18 eral office and is disseminated within 60 days 19 before a general, special or runoff election for 20 the office sought by the candidate or 30 days 21 before a primary or preference election, or a 22 convention or caucus of a political party that 23 has authority to nominate a candidate for the 24 office sought by the candidate; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1962 IS ‘‘(G) a disbursement for a broadcast, cable 1 or satellite communication, or for a paid inter- 2 net or paid digital communication, that pro- 3 motes, supports, attacks or opposes the election 4 of a clearly identified candidate for Federal, 5 State, or local office (regardless of whether the 6 communication contains express advocacy or the 7 functional equivalent of express advocacy); or 8 ‘‘(H) a disbursement for a broadcast, 9 cable, or satellite communication, or for any 10 communication which is placed or promoted for 11 a fee on an online platform, that discusses a 12 national legislative issue of public importance in 13 a year in which a regularly scheduled general 14 election for Federal office is held, but only if 15 the disbursement is made by— 16 ‘‘(i) a foreign principal (as defined in 17 section 1(b) of the Foreign Agents Reg- 18 istration Act of 1938 (22 U.S.C. 611(b)) 19 that is a government of a foreign country 20 or a foreign political party; or 21 ‘‘(ii) a person who is acting as an 22 agent on behalf of such a foreign prin- 23 cipal.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:26 Jun 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1962 IS (2) DEFINITIONS.—Section 319 of such Act (52 1 U.S.C. 30121) is amended by adding at the end the 2 following new subsection: 3 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 4 ‘‘(1) ONLINE PLATFORM.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘online plat- 6 form’ means any public-facing website, web ap- 7 plication, or digital application (including a so- 8 cial network, ad network, or search engine) 9 which— 10 ‘‘(i) sells qualified political advertise- 11 ments; and 12 ‘‘(ii) has 50,000,000 or more unique 13 monthly United States visitors or users for 14 a majority of months during the preceding 15 12 months. 16 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED POLITICAL ADVERTISE- 17 MENT.—For purposes of subparagraph (A), the 18 term ‘qualified political advertisement’ means 19 any advertisement (including search engine 20 marketing, display advertisements, video adver- 21 tisements, native advertisements, and sponsor- 22 ships) that— 23 ‘‘(i) is made by or on behalf of a can- 24 didate; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1962 IS ‘‘(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 ‘‘(2) PAID INTERNET OR PAID DIGITAL COMMU- 9 NICATION.—The term ‘paid internet or paid digital 10 communication’ means a communication which is 11 placed or promoted for a fee on any website, web ap- 12 plication, or digital application (including a social 13 network, ad network, or search engine).’’. 14 (b) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Section 309(d)(1) of the 15 Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 16 30109(d)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 17 lowing new subparagraph: 18 ‘‘(E) In the case of a knowing and willful viola- 19 tion of section 321 that involves a government of a 20 foreign country (or an agent of such a govern- 21 ment)— 22 ‘‘(i) subparagraph (A)(i) shall apply with- 23 out regard to the amount of the contribution or 24 expenditure involved; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1962 IS ‘‘(ii) subparagraph (A)(ii) shall not 1 apply.’’. 2 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 3 this section shall apply with respect to contributions, do- 4 nations, expenditures, and disbursements made on or after 5 the date of the enactment of this Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Jun 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS