FEC Rules US Citizens Living Abroad Can Purchase Online Political Ads

WASHINGTON – The Federal Elections Commission has ruled that U.S. citizens living abroad can purchase political advertisements pertaining to elections in the United States.
The agency handed down the ruling in the case of Jean-Marc Bertrand, who seeks to encourage voters to support third party presidential candidates via Facebook ads.
Facebook requires those who purchase ads to provide a U.S. address and to make payments from a U.S. bank account. Since Bertrand had neither, he was precluded from purchasing the advertising he wanted to buy during the 2020 election cycle.
But the FEC said Tuesday that neither the Federal Elections Campaign Act nor Commission regulations require Bertrand to provide proof of holding a U.S. bank account or having a U.S. residential address to a social media platform as a prerequisite to his purchasing political advertisements on such platforms.
“As a general matter, the Commission has encouraged commercial entities to adopt screening procedures to avoid contributions or expenditures from foreign nationals and other prohibited sources,” the FEC said. “The Commission has not had occasion to review the particular screening procedures adopted by Facebook and expresses no views on those procedures.”
The agency went on to say that its advisory opinion does not weigh in on Bertrand’s citizenship — a fact “assumed by the Commission” it said – nor did it “relieve any entity of its obligation to comply with the Act and Commission regulations.
It also said it declined Bertrand’s request to determine whether Facebook should impose identical requirements on residents and non-resident U.S. citizens purchasing advertising content, saying that was a general question of interpretation beyond the scope of an advisory opinion request.
In The News
Health
Voting
Social Media

CHICAGO - A federal judge on Tuesday put off approval of a proposed $92 million class-action settlement by the social media app TikTok, wanting to give attorneys at least 21 days to address his questions about the proposal. U.S. District Judge John Lee gave the attorneys... Read More

Four panelists warned today that proposed legislative reforms for more aggressive antitrust enforcement in Big Tech would likely spill over across all industries, hindering innovation and harming consumers. Strengthening the antitrust laws - federal and state statutes that restrict the formation of monopolies and prohibit dominant... Read More

BOSTON (AP) — The right-wing friendly social network Parler, which was forced offline following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, says it is re-launching.The Twitter alternative has been struggling to return online since Amazon stripped it of web-hosting... Read More

Amazon won't be forced to immediately restore web service to Parler after a federal judge ruled Thursday against a plea to reinstate the fast-growing social media app, which is favored by followers of former President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in Seattle said she... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Federal Elections Commission has ruled that U.S. citizens living abroad can purchase political advertisements pertaining to elections in the United States. The agency handed down the ruling in the case of Jean-Marc Bertrand, who seeks to encourage voters to support third party presidential... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Social media companies decided this past week they had finally seen enough from President Donald Trump. Facebook and Instagram suspended Trump at least until Inauguration Day. Twitch and Snapchat also disabled Trump’s accounts. To top it all off, Twitter ended a nearly 12-year... Read More