«If an
ad on any social media platform contains
words of
express advocacy, those
ads would fall under the FEC's regulations, including its disclosure requirements and foreign national expenditure ban,» says McCurry.
The second proposal would have captured magic
words as well as «functional equivalents of
express advocacy,» which according to a 1987 federal court ruling are
ads that «could only be interpreted by a reasonable person as containing advocacy of the election or defeat of one or more clearly identified candidates.»