User:Regina.valensia/Stand by Your Ad provision

How is the "Stand by your Ad" provision enforced for internet ads? This is specifically applicable to radio and TV ads, but there seems to not be any traction for expansion to digital media.

Maybe add more details into the article body about how ads must have the disclaimer up for 4 seconds min, otherwise a penalty in ad costs will occur against the organization/donor who takes out the ad.

Online advertising

The "Stand By Your Ad" requirements do not cover any form of advertising over the Internet. Campaigns now regard the Internet a medium that is as important as television, radio and print advertising, or perhaps even more important due to its cost-effectiveness and rate of propagation.

Candidates have been known to take the mudslinging online, hoping that it would create sufficient controversy that media outlets would afford the coverage it needed without associating themselves to the attack. During the 2004 presidential election for instance, George W. Bush's campaign produced a web video with the conclusion "Kerry (D-MA) – Brought to you by the special interests" and sent it out to six million supporters via email. Another known tactic is for any campaign or person to upload an exclusive online attack ad, known or anonymously, on a video-sharing website such as YouTube without taking any credit for it. This was highlighted by the media after an anonymous editor uploaded a parody 1984 ad depicting Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) as "Big Brother" during the 2008 Democratic primaries, which garnered over five million views online.

Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has since proposed to extend the requirement to political advertising on the Internet. The sequel "Stand By Your Internet Ad Act" was introduced into the United States Congress on April 12, 2005, but has received little momentum since. This bipartisan effort by Senators Wyden (D-Oregon) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) would apply the existing rules to include additional electioneering strategies like print ads and internet ads, in an effort to deter candidates from inflammatory campaign communications.

In March 2023, a final rule was put in place by the FEC that provided more clarity around the concept of public communications, in an effort to better apply regulatory standards upon online and digital political ads which have largely been unaddressed; in so doing, the FEC's attention on internet advertisements has brought about a new definition: "communications placed for a fee on another person's website, digital device, application, or advertising platform,” that can withstand technological advances to come.

Reception[edit]

Howard Dean, who ran for the 2004 Democratic nomination, took some unwarranted attacks from people who were not aware of the act, who thought he was being self-important or obvious in the phrasing. While opponents of the provision at its time of introduction lodged challenges in court that it would violate the First Amendment, others believed that the law merely stiffened disclaimer guidelines and had no effect on limiting free speech. One example is the McConnell v. FEC decision, which upheld the Stand By Your Ad provision as being constitutional, yet dissenting concerns remain about the threat posed to anonymity due to the regulatory mandate that calls for TV and radio ads to publicly disclose their sponsors.

Campaigns have lamented that the seconds used for the candidates to approve the communication results in less time for them to communicate their message, increasing their costs of campaigning. One media adviser mentioned that the requirement reduced the number of positive spots that the producer can have. Other candidates, however, regard it as an opportunity to affirm or encapsulate the theme of their message: "I'm Tom Kean, Jr. Together, we can break the back of corruption. That's why I approved this message."

Use outside campaign advertising[edit]

Although rarely noted by pundits during the course of congressional debate, the provision became one of the most recognized—and joked about—changes in the content of television ads.

Several politicians have made references to the phrase in aspects of their campaign outside radio or television advertising. In the 2006 elections, Senator Joseph Lieberman declared "I approve this election" in his acceptance speech, following his victory as a third-party candidate (Connecticut for Lieberman). Just before the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton made news by announcing that "she did not approve this message" in reference to the John McCain campaign using clips of her attacking Barack Obama during the Democratic primaries.^{[citation needed]}