Trade Group Comprising Internet Giants Begs FEC to Loosen Regulations on Political Ads

With the U.S. elections having been allegedly targeted by foreign elements with the express purpose of interfering with American democracy, tighter regulations have been put in place to make sure that this does not happen again. Internet giants are currently trying to fight back against these regulations and recently sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) asking for more flexibility.

The letter came from the Internet Association (IA), which is made up of some of the web’s biggest players. In the document that was sent to the FEC, the organization is basically asking the commission to go easier on the regulation so that internet companies will have more room to profit from election ads.

“IA believes that the rules should be flexible, so as not to constrain future technological advancements. IA also believes that technology plays an important role in providing information, and that rollovers, click-throughs, and other technology yet to be developed can provide far more meaningful information to users than traditional 'in the box' disclaimers. The FEC should develop rules that encourage innovation, not rules that limit or restrict new technology,” the letter reads.

One of the main points with regards to regulating internet political ads is the use of disclaimers, which basically disclose the source of the ad. Internet companies say that due to the limited space, adding disclaimers would take away too much of the available real estate. The issue is even worse on mobile devices, these companies argue.

As a compromise, the companies propose to simply ad an icon that would take users to a separate page, where they will see the disclaimer, The Hill reports. By doing so, these internet giants believe that they can still fulfill the requirements for transparency while keeping their customers happy.

“Rather than trying to fit a ‘paid for by’ notice on an ad that may change in size when delivered on different platforms or devices, the adaptive disclaimer would be inserted into the ad and be visible and accessible in all formats,” IA writes to the FEC.