Letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) - Klobuchar Urges the Federal Election Commission to Shield U.S. Elections from Foreign Interference

Letter

Dear Commissioners:

I am writing to express serious concerns about the alarming revelations that foreign agents or entities were purchasing Facebook ads to influence the 2016 election, as part of a broader social media disinformation campaign. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) must take action to address these vulnerabilities and protect our democracy from foreign interference.

On June 1, 2017, the FEC was sent a letter by 17 U.S. Senators asking the agency to reconsider their decision not to "launch [a] rulemaking to ensure that U.S. political spending is free from foreign influence." Despite mounting evidence that foreign money was spent to influence the election, no action has been taken on this critical issue. More troubling is that foreign actors purchased social medial advertisements, which the FEC has consistently refused to regulate. Since 2011, the FEC has declined to extend a wide array of traditional campaign finance and disclosure rules to social media advertising. Despite ample evidence that Americans increasingly rely on social media for their news , and extensive evidence that campaigns have dramatically shifted their expenditures to social media , the FEC has failed to update its campaign finance regulations in these areas.

As the 17 Senators noted in their June letter, "[t]he FEC was created to facilitate campaign finance disclosure and enforce the limits and prohibitions on political spending. Our election laws expressly prohibit foreign nationals "from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly.' Taking action to ensure that U.S. elections are free of foreign money is a critical part of the FEC's responsibility."

A pillar of our campaign finance laws has been disclosure, promoting the voting public's right to know the source of campaign-related information they receive. While a robust and transparent regime exists for broadcast media which helps voters to track political advertisements, there is limited transparency for digital advertising which may allow certain actors to evade transparency or accountability.

In light of the revelation by the New York Times article "Fake Russian Facebook Accounts Bought $100,000 in Political Ads," the FEC must take action. To address this clear violation of existing law, I urge the FEC to adopt a regulatory framework that shields our elections from foreign money and harmonizes the rules governing traditional campaign activities with increasingly common digital activities. Americans deserve to know who is paying for social media ads seeking to sway their vote, just as they are entitled to know who is funding similar television ads.

It is time that we put country above party and protect the democracy we all cherish. Again, I ask the FEC to move forward on these important rulemakings.

Sincerely,

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