The media platforms that voters engage with, many of which feature political ads intended to influence their vote, change over time — sometimes quite rapidly. It is vital that federal campaign finance laws designed to ensure transparency and curb corruption remain relevant by adapting to the changing way voters consume content.
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has petitioned the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the independent agency charged with interpreting and implementing federal campaign finance laws, to address how those laws apply to political messages promoted by social media influencers and to political ads on streaming platforms.
Both influencers and streaming ads are increasingly being used to sway voters, yet FEC regulations fail to expressly account for either one.
FEC Regulations Must Require Disclaimers on Influencers’ Paid Political Messages
Influencers — also commonly referred to as content creators — are increasingly being paid to promote not only commercial products, but also political candidates and causes, to their significant number of subscribers and followers on social media platforms.
Influencer marketing has grown into a well-established, multibillion-dollar industry, and political groups are spending substantial sums of money on it. During the 2024 election, content creators were invited to attend both major political parties’ presidential nominating conventions.
Likewise, super PACs that are purportedly independent of political parties or candidates are spending millions of dollars to promote their preferred candidates.
Because FEC regulations don’t explicitly require influencers to disclose when they are being paid by a political group to produce or promote content, influencers frequently don’t disclose that information.
When an influencer’s paid political content lacks any indication that the content is paid for and who paid for it — which is required by law for political ads appearing on websites, television and radio — voters are deprived of crucial information necessary to make an informed electoral choice, and, in some cases, voters are being affirmatively misled.
For example, during the 2022 election, the former reality TV star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi posted a video teasing Dr. Mehmet Oz for supposedly leaving New Jersey (Polizzi’s home state) to run for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania — essentially accusing Oz of being a carpetbagger candidate.
Because Polizzi’s video featured no disclaimer, voters could easily have read it as an off-the-cuff joke with no ulterior motives behind it. Yet, in reality, Oz’s opponent, John Fetterman, had paid Polizzi to make the video, which his campaign uploaded to its social media pages.
Voters have a right to know when an influencer is being paid to serve as a political candidate’s — or anyone else’s — mouthpiece. The FEC needs to require “paid for by” disclaimers on influencers’ paid political content.
FEC Regulations Must Explicitly Incorporate Streaming Media Services
Millions of Americans use streaming media services like Netflix and YouTube, as well as internet-connected devices like smart televisions, to access information and entertainment. The FEC needs to make clear that the rules governing political ads apply to ads disseminated on streaming platforms.
Spending on streaming political ads exceeded $2.3 billion during the 2024 election, and is poised to continue growing, but FEC regulations don’t explicitly mention how federal campaign finance rules apply to streaming services.
It is unclear how federal disclaimer and reporting requirements, or rules barring coordination between candidates, parties and outside groups, apply to this major category of political ads. That ambiguity is unacceptable and defies common sense.
For instance, two people could be watching the reality competition show “Dancing with the Stars” at the same time on different platforms and see the same political ad. Under current rules, a person watching the ad on ABC would see a disclaimer describing who paid for the ad, because ABC is a “broadcast, cable, or satellite” platform explicitly included in FEC regulations.
By contrast, someone seeing the same ad on a streaming platform like Disney+ or Hulu might not see a disclaimer, since it’s unclear if the disclaimer requirement applies to streaming platforms. This kind of inconsistent approach to political ad rules is illogical and dangerous.
Campaign Finance Laws Must Evolve to Ensure Voters Remain Informed and Protected
Regulatory gaps are often a prime target for unscrupulous political groups looking to mislead voters. Because influencer marketing and streaming ads have become major avenues for political ad spending, it is simply unacceptable to leave it unclear whether these ads are covered by the legal safeguards necessary to ensure electoral transparency and accountability.
The FEC needs to ensure that voters using newer content platforms know who is spending money to influence their vote, while making it clear that these platforms are not a loophole which special interests can exploit to directly underwrite candidates’ campaigns.
The ways voters stay connected, informed and entertained are evolving — and the rules that ensure voters know who is paying to influence their vote must evolve too.
Campaign Legal Center is calling on the Federal Election Commission to act to prevent influencer marketing and streaming media services from becoming the latest avenues for special interests to undermine transparency and accountability in our elections.
Voters deserve an FEC willing to act to enforce the law and protect elections. For more information on how Campaign Legal Center is fighting to bring around this accountability, check out our action page.