Should Campaign Finance Law Apply to Blogs?

Posted on March 3, 2005

The Federal Election Commission might try to extend campaign finance law to bloggers. CNET reports that the commission is beginning the process of extending the 2002 campaign finance law to the Internet. Bradley Smith, one of the six commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, told CNET's News.com that this could have a major impact on blogging. Bloggers could be fined by the government for linking and posting press releases from candidates in blogs or email distribution lists. The FEC exempted the Internet from the campaign finance law (McCain-Feingold law) in 2002 by a 4-2 vote, but this time Smith said they couldn't muster enough votes to appeal the judge's decision.

While it seems ludicrous that a blogger could be fined by the FEC for something like linking to a political candidate, Smith is serious that the Internet could become regulated to the point where its grassroots impact on politics is greatly diminished.

When asked what he would like to see happen, Smith said, "I'd like someone to say that unpaid activity over the Internet is not an expenditure or contribution, or at least activity done by regular Internet journals, to cover sites like CNET, Slate and Salon. Otherwise, it's very likely that the Internet is going to be regulated, and the FEC and Congress will be inundated with e-mails saying, 'How dare you do this!'" And when asked whether this is a partisan issue Smith said, "Yes, it is at this time. But I always point out that partisan splits tend to reflect ideology rather than party. I don't think the Democratic commissioners are sitting around saying that the Internet is working to the advantage of the Republicans."