Paid campaign posts would name their funders

A person, committee, or other entity that creates, first publishes, or first distributes a covered social media post would have to include a clear notice naming and giving the address of its funder. The rule covers social media posts supporting or opposing a candidate or ballot question that a committee pays for, directly or through an agent or independent contractor. For graphics, the notice must be large enough to read and in the same language as the graphic. For audio, the notice must be clearly spoken at the beginning or end, last at least 3 seconds, and use the same language as the audio. For video with audio, the notice must appear for at least 4 seconds and be clearly spoken at the beginning or end for at least 3 seconds, in the same language as the video. A committee that pays someone to post must tell that person about the notice rule. The rule does not apply to satire or parody, or to a news platform that routinely carries general news and commentary and gives post creators a written policy requiring the notice. The notice must be included in the post when it is created, first published, or first distributed.

A committee would have to report the name and street address of a person paid by its agent or independent contractor to support or oppose a candidate or ballot question on social media. This applies when a committee pays an agent or independent contractor, who then pays another person for the social media activity. The committee would file an amended campaign statement with the information, as required for reported expenditures.

A person who violates the social media notice rule could be ordered to pay a civil fine of up to $250 for a first violation and up to $1,000 for each later violation. These fines apply to violations of the social media notice rule. Each violating post distributed or aired to the public counts as a separate violation. Each violating post distributed or aired to the public counts separately.