Advertising and Social Media

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As campaigns explore new ways to harness artificial intelligence, regulators are rushing to keep pace ahead of the 2024 elections. The explosion in generative AI has put pressure on lawmakers and advertising platforms alike to stay ahead of deepfakes, voice clones, and other political advertising that may deceive voters or spread misinformation, all while balancing the promise of “friendly” applications that increase efficiency and affordability in campaign tools.

But regulating AI in political communications poses unique challenges. What qualifies as deceptive advertising? Can deceptive uses of AI be banned, given the First Amendment’s special protections for political expression? Who is regulating AI-generated political ads, and who is responsible for enforcing any controls? Do advertising platforms have a role in policing the content?

Venable’s Political Law Practice Group is monitoring ongoing efforts to regulate AI in political advertising at the federal, state, and industry levels. The following highlights some of these efforts and the emerging trends.Continue Reading Synthetic Content, Real Regulations: Regulation of Artificial Intelligence in Political Advertising

The Federal Election Commission last week approved a final rule establishing requirements for sponsorship disclaimers on political ads. The Commission’s internet disclaimer rule has been unchanged since 2006, at times leaving advertisers and platforms for political ads uncertain about how the rule applies to evolving technologies. The FEC’s review is ongoing, and the public is invited to comment on whether additional rules are necessary to regulate social media influencers, boosted ads, and other forms of digital advertising.

What’s New?

Technological Modernization. The rule approved this week incorporates proposed changes we first wrote about in 2018. To start with, the new rule makes clear that the current disclaimer requirements for ads placed for a fee on websites also apply to paid advertising through other digital platforms, such as social media, mobile apps, and streaming sites. This modernizes the rule to accommodate emerging technologies and is consistent with what has become common practice on major social media platforms and online advertising networks.Continue Reading FEC Adopts New Disclosure Rule for Digital Political Ads

On September 1, Ron Jacobs participated in a webinar, “Political Digital Ads: Disclosure, Free Speech and Legislation,” hosted by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Along with fellow panelists David Voorman from Americans for Prosperity and Jared de Marinis from the Maryland State Board of Elections, Ron discussed the current state of digital campaign ads,…

The Federal Election Commission recently held a public hearing to discuss its March 2018 proposed rule aimed at providing voters with more information about who pays for or sponsors online political advertisements. The private sector has adopted a solution to the issue.

On May 22, 2018, the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) took the first step to alter the status quo by unveiling a new, industry-wide PoliticalAds transparency initiative designed to bring greater transparency and accountability to the realm of political advertising.

Similar to the DAA’s YourAdChoice program, which provides consumers with easily accessible information via the familiar blue triangle that accompanies interest-based ads, the PoliticalAds initiative will require certain political advertisements to supply information and a comparable purple icon.Continue Reading Transparency Coming to a Campaign Ad Near You!

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, asking for public comment on proposals for requiring “disclaimers” on online ads and fundraising. Under each of two similar proposals, paid Internet ads that expressly advocate for candidates or that solicit political donations must state who paid for the ad and…