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September 5, 2007

In two decisions delivered yesterday, the U.S. Federal Election Commission (FEC) has determined that political blogs (Web logs) and bloggers are media for the purposes of The U.S. Electoral Law.

The FEC's first case was a complaint against the well known left wing blog The Daily Kos.

Conservative blogger John Bambenek claimed that the blog should comply with campaign finance laws since it charges a fee to place advertising on its site, and that it provides “a gift of free advertising and candidate media services” by posting blog entries that support candidates.

The FEC has decided that the blog falls “squarely” within the media exemption, and is therefore not subject to federal regulation under the Act. Ipso facto: under U.S. Law, blogs ARE formally recognized as media organizations.

In the FEC's second case, the agency rejected allegations that Michael Grace made unreported expenditures when he leased space on a server to create a blog which advocated the defeat of Representative Mary Bono in the November 2006 election.

Overall, the FEC found that the respondent did not fraudulently misrepresent himself in violation of 2U.S.C. 441-H, and that the Act exempts from regulation volunteer activity by individuals.

In the FEC’s regulations covering the Internet, the Commission clarified that an individual’s use, without compensation, of equipment and personal services for blogging, creating, or hosting a Web site or blog for the purpose of influencing a Federal election are not expenditures subject to the restrictions of campaign finance law.

Essentially, the FEC reaffirmed the right of American bloggers to exercise their free speech rights without being subject to U.S. electoral law, in the same way that media organizations are able to.

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Source: Tech Crunch