by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, November 7, 2017

Federal Election Commissioner Ellen Weintraub has reached out to Facebook, Google and Twitter to ask for their input on possible new rules regarding online election ads.

“It would be particularly helpful for the Commission to receive information regarding the current state of Twitter’s advertising technology and its ability to to provide disclaimer information on paid poltiical advertising,” Weintraub wrote in a letter that she posted on Twitter on Monday.

The FEC recently opened a proceeding to explore whether online ads must include the same disclaimers as TV and newspaper ads. The agency is accepting comments until November 9.

Weintraub sent a similar letter to Google, but also asked that company how the landscape may have changed since 2010, when the FEC issued an advisory opinion regarding search ads. The agency said at the time that Google could run pay-per-click political ads without including disclaimers in the copy, provided that the text displays the URL of the sponsor’s site, and that the landing page has a disclaimer.

In her letter to Facebook, Weintraub asked whether the company revised its stance since 2011, when it argued that the “character-limited ads” on the service were so physically small that disclaimers shouldn’t be required.

“I am interested in hearing from Facebook whether, given subsequent developments, the company position on this proposed rulemaking has changed,” she wrote. “Given the prominence of Facebook in the political discourse of this nation, it is important that the Federal Election Commission hear from you,” she wrote.

Twitter said recently that it plans to launch a “transparency center” for ads, which will include a section for electioneering ads — meaning that ads that clearly refer to a candidate or a political party connected to that candidate. That section will include disclosures about the total campaign ad spend, the funding organization and targeting demographics. The company also said electioneering ads will have a distinct look.

Last month, Sens. Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and John McCain (R-Arizona) unveiled the Honest Ads Act, which would require digital platforms with at least 50,000,000 monthly viewers to maintain publicly available copies of political ads purchased by groups spending more than a total of $500. The companies also would have to maintain public records about the target audience, number of views, rates charged, and dates and times of publication.

The current activity on Capitol Hill stems from recent revelations that Russian operatives purchased online ads and used social media to spread propaganda during the last election cycle.

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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