Wikipolicy

FPPC & DIGITAL POLITICAL MEDIA

May 28, 2010

Wiki started by Nick Zigler, CALinnovates.org Intern

The California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is basically out there to make sure nothing crooked is happening in any given election. They engage in all sorts of activities they look at who donates what to whom, which groups are paying for which media, what information might be intentionally misleading to voters, etc. The FPPC is California’s bureaucratic watchdog keeping Tammany Hall at bay.

So, as slate mailers (the cardstock things you coincidentally get in the mail right before vote-by-mail ballots arrive) give way to Facebook, Twitter, and millions upon millions of political emails, the FPPC has begun to take notice of how political communication occurs in the digital realm and if/how the FPPC should/can regulate it.

If I run a website, let’s say Twitter, and recommend Candidate X as someone all users should follow the FPPC thinks that might constitute a campaign contribution.  You see, there are a lot of rules about how funds can be raised and spent in the interest of a candidate, party, or issue. As of today, the internet represents a sort of a new frontier; a wild west for campaign regulation.

So, the FPPC will hold two public informational hearings this year in their efforts to determine what and how online political communications should be regulated. However they proceed, an issue to consider:

The internet is a powerful, democratic, and infinitely expansive space for the expression and proliferation of ideas. Somehow, something will need to be done to make sure the integrity of campaign law isn’t lost in the digital realm or manipulated by unscrupulous groups but at the same time the internet and innovation need to remain unfettered and unregulated.