Challenging Foreign Influence in Elections

FSFP V. GOVERNMENT OF RUSSIA AND TRUMP CAMPAIGN

In December 2016, Free Speech For People, with our partner the Campaign for Accountability, filed the first complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that Russian activity in the 2016 presidential election, and potential Trump campaign coordination, violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. By December 2021, five years after the 2016 complaint, the Federal Election Commission had not responded. In response, Free Speech For People and Campaign for Accountability filed a federal lawsuit seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.

READ MORE

FSFP V. CITGO AND TRUMP INAUGURAL COMMITTEE

In April 2017, Free Speech For People filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the oil company Citgo, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company that owns and controls Citgo, and President Trump’s inaugural committee. The complaint alleges that the companies and the inaugural committee violated a federal ban on donations to inaugural committees by foreign nationals.

Read More

CENTRAL MAINE POWER COMPANY V. MAINE COMMISSION ON GOVERNMENTAL ETHICS AND ELECTION PRACTICES

In November 2023, Maine voters passed by a historic and resounding margin (86%) a ballot measure prohibiting foreign government-influenced corporations from unlimited spending in elections. That measure, codified under Maine law as 21-A M.R.S. § 1064, bans corporate political spending from foreign government-influenced corporations. The law was challenged in the courts in an effort led in part by foreign government-influenced corporations. The matter is currently pending before the U.S.

Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. Free Speech For People filed an amicus brief in each of the lower and appellate court proceedings, and it will continue to support the state as it defends the law.

Read More

ADVOCATING FOR DISCLOSURE OF FUNDERS OF INTERNET POLITICAL ADS

Free Speech For People joined with Public Citizen to call on the Federal Election Commission to adopt rules requiring political advertisements on Internet media, such as Facebook, to include disclaimers listing their funders, as are already required for ads in other media, following revelations that Internet political advertisements were in some cases paid for by foreign entities in the 2016 presidential election.

• Comment letter to FEC with Public Citizen (Nov. 1, 2017)
• Statement after favorable FEC vote to begin rulemaking (Nov. 17, 2017)

CONGRESSIONAL ACTION TO PREVENT FOREIGN INTERFERENCE IN ELECTIONS

Free Speech For People joined allied partners to issue a joint letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan urging congressional action to help prevent foreign interests from intervening in future elections (Feb. 8, 2018)