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Political Speech in an Internet Age

By Carolyn Elefant

Back in November 2008, President Obama rode to victory at least in part due to his campaign's ability to effectively harness the power of the Internet and social media. Yet nine months later, many state and local political candidates are stymied from exploiting the Internet in their campaigns due to archaic campaign rules that haven't kept pace with technology, according to The Wall Street Journal. The WSJ focuses on the plight of Scott Wagman, a local businessman vying for the position of mayor of St. Petersburg, Fla., in a 10-way race. Seeking low-cost ways to gain exposure in a crowded field, Wagman turned to the Web and social-networking sites. Wagman's campaign bought ads on Facebook, as well as Google ads that used his opponents' names as keywords. Unfortunately for Wagman, what he intended as a low-cost campaign measure may wind up being a high-cost legal battle. The Florida Elections Commission determined that the ads violate state election law because they do not include a disclaimer indicating that Wagman's campaign purchased them. The campaign, however, contends that the disclaimers are not required because the subject communications are not ads, just links to campaign ads which include the required disclosures. In fact,...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 03, 2009 (boomark / email).