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Out of curiosity, how does political ad spending work in the US? It seems that TFA hints at the fact that political ad funding is public and requires proper re
by jfim 8y ago
Out of curiosity, how does political ad spending work in the US?
It seems that TFA hints at the fact that political ad funding is public and requires proper recordkeeping. Does that mean that when someone sees "This message paid by friends of Mr. Foo", one can write to the TV/radio/website and request more information about "friends of Mr. Foo?"
- CobrastanJorji 8y agoKinda sorta. Political campaigns and some large organizations are required to report their spending and donations, and, as a separate thing, advertisements may be required to identify themselves. The State of Washington, though, as well as the City of Seattle, have somewhat unusual laws that requires substantially more. They have a law on the books aimed at TV channels and newspapers requiring that all political ad spending be disclosed in full by the companies that sold the advertising. Like, totally. And the records basically need to be available for immediate public inspection. So in theory you should be able to walk into a newspapers office and ask to see the big book of political advertising purchases and see exactly who spent how much and exactly what they bought. What does that mean for companies like Facebook? It's hard to say! I live in Seattle and there's been a fun bit of ongoing drama when a reporter for our local paper, "The Stranger," thought to try it out and simply walked into the Facebook and Google offices and asked to see the books. It's been a fun bit of local political news drama for a while now, and it's just escalated a bit. Here's a link to all of the recent pieces by the original investigator of all this: https://www.thestranger.com/authors/12168/eli-sanders https://www.thestranger.com/authors/12168/eli-sanders Here's Seattle's law: https://library.municode.com/WA/seattle/codes/municipal_code?nodeId=TIT2EL_CH2.04ELCACO_SUBCHAPTER_IIICADI_2.04.280COADDURE https://library.municode.com/WA/seattle/codes/municipal_code... The important bit that everybody's gonna fight over what it means is this: "Each commercial advertiser that has accepted or provided political advertising during the election campaign shall maintain open for public inspection...The exact nature and extent of the advertising services rendered."
- kolpa 8y agoHow does an ad seller know whether an ad buy is "political"? Requiring the seller to keep records seems reasonable, but requiring the seller to make records, does not. That is, an ad seller ought not be expected to know which incoming buys are political. That ought to be the responsibility of the buyer/"creatives" to declare.
- hudibras 8y agoBecause the buyers are all registered political entities: candidates' campaigns, political action committees, etc. It's illegal for a "regular person" to go buy political ads and not register with the state.
- CamperBob2 8y agoThat sounds like an outrageous First Amendment violation.
- hudibras 8y agoNo one is stopping that person from buying anything; they just have to register first.
- chrismcb 8y agoSo if you don't register, your free speech is abridged. The first amendment doesn't say you have to register before you are given free speech.
- hudibras 8y agoI don't know what to tell you, other than that the Public Disclosure Commission and the Fair Campaign Practices Act have been Washington state law since the early 1970s.
- CamperBob2 8y ago