The Senate on Wednesday (March 24) will hold its first hearing on a new bill that could reduce the media's massive election ad take by extending political ad disclosures to online ads on the largest digital platforms, beefing up content disclosures for political spots and other content on television and radio and making existing disclosures more prominent.

The Democrat-backed bill has President Biden's support.

Also Read: New Bill Would Heighten Political Ad Disclosures

The goal is to rein in "dark money." That is money to influence elections but funneled through nonprofits and shell companies so its source remains obscured.

The Senate Rules Committee, chaired by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is holding a hearing Wednesday (March 24) on the For the People Act of 2021 (HR 1). The bill — the first of the new session, as its number suggests — was introduced Jan. 4 and passed the House. But it will be a tough sell in the Senate. Republicans are likely to filibuster it, but the filibuster is also in jeopardy, as Democrats contemplate getting rid of, or at least modifying, the procedure that allows a single senator to delay passage of a bill. 

When the Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United case that corporations and unions had free speech rights and lifted limits on how much money they could spend on elections, the court also said that disclosure would be a key element to balance that new freedom.

There will be two panels of witnesses on the bill. 

Panel I features former Attorney General Eric Holder; Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson; Michael Waldman, Brennan Center for Justice; Mac Warner, West Virginia Secretary of State; and Todd Rokita, Indiana attorney general.

Panel II features former FEC Chair and Campaign Legal Center founder Trevor Potter; Fred Wertheimer, director of Democracy 21 (and former president of Common Cause); Tiffany Muller, president, End Citizens United/Let America Vote Action Fund; and Bradley Smith, former FEC chair and chairman of the Institute for Free Speech.

Among other things, the bill at issue would change the disclosure language that applies to “radio” and “audio,” meaning online audio as well as broadcast, and change references to “television” to “video format,” which would incorporate streaming. 

The bill would mandate that online platforms maintain files of political ads for public inspection, as broadcasters are currently required to do, and that those buying the ad time provide the requisite information for the file, which includes a digital copy of the ad, a description of the target audience, the average rate charged for the ad, the name of the candidate and the office they are seeking, as well as the election to which the ad refers. The file would have to be retained for at least four years.

For a candidate ad, it must include the name of the candidate, the authorized committee and the committee treasurer.

“Online platform” is defined as “any public-facing website, web application, or digital application (including a social network, ad network or search engine).” But it only pertains to those platforms with “50,000,000 or more unique monthly United States visitors or users for a majority of months during the preceding 12 months,” which would include YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon.

The bill would also require broadcast, cable and online platforms to make “reasonable efforts” to ensure political ads are not purchased by foreign nationals, directly or indirectly.

Also Read: Dems Seek FCC Political Disclosure Closure

In the interests of giving the public more tools to combat election disinformation, the bill would require the Federal Election Commission to conduct a study on “media literacy with respect to online political content consumption among voting-age Americans,” including recommendations for improving critical skills when it comes to consuming political content in general, and online political content in particular.

WASHINGTON — With Donald Trump’s Republican presidential campaign limping into the final stretch, kneecapped by multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and claims of conspiracy and election fraud, it is looking increasingly like Democrat Hillary Clinton’s administration will be the one putting the new stamp on communications policy.

Clinton championed network neutrality as secretary of state; strong network neutrality rules as a U.S. senator from New York; is on the record as supporting municipal broadband buildouts; and has talked the same talk as President Obama about the importance of universal broadband access.

MERGER HAWK?

Clinton could be tougher on mergers than the Obama Federal Communications Commission and Justice Department, which allowed the Comcast-NBCUniversal, DirecTV-AT&T and Charter Communications-Time Warner Cable (and Bright House Networks) mergers, though not without conditions that Republicans branded onerous.

In an October 2015 interview with Website qz.com, Clinton said she would beef up antitrust enforcement at DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission: “I will direct more resources to hire aggressive regulators who will conduct in-depth industry research to better understand the link between market consolidation and stagnating incomes. Ultimately, this will foster a change in corporate culture that restores competition to the marketplace.”

The first woman president would have a number of like candidates for the FCC chairmanship, though the honor of first woman to chair the commission has already been taken by Mignon Clyburn in the interim between Julius Genachowski and Tom Wheeler.

According to various sources, Susan Ness and Karen Kornbluh could be in the running for FCC chairman under Clinton. If the post does not go to a woman, Blair Levin — a former top FCC official and architect of the National Broadband Plan and its spectrum auction — is another name that has surfaced more than once over the years for that job.

It is not yet clear who would be working on the telecom transition team: Wheeler was a key figure on Obama’s team.

One Democratic source who spoke on background said Ed Meier, who worked on tech issues for the campaign and is on the team, could take a lead role. Levin could also lend a hand and John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, would almost certainly have input.

On the FCC front, Ness is a former commissioner who has made no secret of her willingness to step into the breach, according to various industry sources. Kornbluh also has a resume that dovetails nicely with the job.

Kornbluh — Ambassador Kornbluh at that — is currently executive vice president for external affairs at Nielsen, but before that she was ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development under President Obama and served as his policy director when he was a senator. She also has a connection to the Clintons, having served in legislative affairs during Bill Clinton’s administration while at Treasury.

A Clinton administration would at least threaten some of the new money that has come into the political ad market since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed corporations and unions to fund more of those ads. Back in July, she released a video promising to put campaign finance reform at the top of her political agenda and proposed a constitutional amendment overturning the court’s Citizens United decision within the first 30 days of her administration. She also pledged to push for better disclosure of campaign funding.

BROADBAND POLICY

Clinton talked up broadband access and connection as secretary of state in a speech about global information access, which she likened to freedom of assembly. At least one public-interest group did not like the sound of her take on trying to shut down terrorist recruiting online.

She got a thumbs-down (actually a “frowny face”) in a 2016 voter guide from ’net activist group Free Press for this 2015 interview answer on fighting terrorism: “We have to deny them online space. And this is complicated. You’re going to hear all of the usual complaints, you know, freedom of speech, etc. But if we truly are in a war against terrorism and we are truly looking for ways to shut off their funding, shut off the flow of foreign fighters, then we’ve got to shut off their means of communicating.”

Free Press also points out that Clinton in 2015 wrote an op-ed piece in support of the FCC’s pre-emption of state laws limiting municipal broadband buildouts. But with a court reversing the FCC’s pre-emptions in Tennessee and North Carolina, and the Obama administration deciding not to appeal that decision, that effort would likely have to come through funding and championing municipal buildouts in states not trying to block them.