Why candidates don't have to say 'I approve this message' for ads that run on streaming services
Inside Elections' Jacob Rubashkin reported Monday that Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is airing ads targeting anti-abortion activist Mark Houck ahead of their April 23 primary in Pennsylvania's 1st District, though so far Rubashkin has tracked just $23,000 on streaming TV via AdImpact. Still, the congressman's campaign is taking his underfunded opponent seriously enough to run this commercial summing Houck up as a "porn addict, con artist, [and] narcissist." What this spot lacks, though, is the familiar "stand-by-your-ad" disclaimer—"I'm Jane Smith, and I approve this message," that the 2002 McCain–Feingold Act mandated for all TV ads run by federal candidates. However, the FEC adopted new rules at the end of 2022 clarifying that this refrain—which has been parodied in pop culture and in campaign ads themselves—is only required for television and radio ads delivered by broadcast, cable, or satellite. The Commission concluded that it lacked the authority to mandate such disclaimers for ads distributed via the internet, including those that appear on social media platforms or on streaming services. As a result, the same ad could, for example, run on both NBC and on Peacock, the streaming platform owned by the network, with a spoken disclaimer on the former and without one on the latter. And for sleuths tracking down copies of political ads on YouTube, the absence of a stand-by-your-ad disclaimer no longer means that a spot won't appear on television screens. However, written disclaimers are still required for all internet ads. Campaign Action
JoriPress
Inside Elections' Jacob Rubashkin reported Monday that Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is airing ads targeting anti-abortion activist Mark Houck ahead of their April 23 primary in Pennsylvania's 1st District, though so far Rubashkin has tracked just $23,000 on streaming TV via AdImpact. Still, the congressman's campaign is taking his underfunded opponent seriously enough to run this commercial summing Houck up as a "porn addict, con artist, [and] narcissist."
What this spot lacks, though, is the familiar "stand-by-your-ad" disclaimer—"I'm Jane Smith, and I approve this message," that the 2002 McCain–Feingold Act mandated for all TV ads run by federal candidates.
However, the FEC adopted new rules at the end of 2022 clarifying that this refrain—which has been parodied in pop culture and in campaign ads themselves—is only required for television and radio ads delivered by broadcast, cable, or satellite. The Commission concluded that it lacked the authority to mandate such disclaimers for ads distributed via the internet, including those that appear on social media platforms or on streaming services.
As a result, the same ad could, for example, run on both NBC and on Peacock, the streaming platform owned by the network, with a spoken disclaimer on the former and without one on the latter. And for sleuths tracking down copies of political ads on YouTube, the absence of a stand-by-your-ad disclaimer no longer means that a spot won't appear on television screens. However, written disclaimers are still required for all internet ads.
