Federal officials struggle to drag political ad rules into the internet age

During a daylong public hearing, the Federal Election Commission’s four remaining commissioners — two seats are vacant because President Donald Trump hasn’t appointed anyone to fill them — couldn’t find consensus on how to best drag federal political ad regulations into the Internet age. “I don’t think we’ve gotten very far,” FEC Chairwoman Caroline Hunter, a Republican, said two hours into the hearing, which featured testimony from 12 representatives of think tanks, activist groups and legal organizations. “Keep hope alive, madam chair,” Democratic Vice Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub said with a sigh.

Several people who testified at the FEC hearing implored agency commissioners to act.  “The elephant in the room today is the mechanics of online advertising have become notoriously opaque, while our transparency rules, certainly in respect to political advertising, have not evolved,” said Joseph Jerome, policy counsel of advocacy group Center for Democracy & Technology. “New industry-led self regulatory efforts may solve this problem. It also has the potential to make the situation worse if the FEC does not engage in meaningful oversight.”

At the most basic level, FEC commissioners are trying to decide how online ads should display a disclaimer that generically reads: “Paid for by Committee X. Not authorized by any candidate of candidate’s committee.”