JCOPE Seeks Comments on Social Media and Lobbying

The Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) is seeking informal comments concerning the applicability of the Lobbying Act to social media activities.

Citing the increasing use of social media tools for lobbying, JCOPE is considering issuing guidance to provide clarity on when social media activities constitute reportable lobbying

The questions that JCOPE is considering include:

• When does social media activity constitute direct lobbying?
• Must a communication be made directly to a public official (e.g., posting on a public official’s social media page or tweeting at a public official) to be considered direct lobbying?
• When does social media constitute grassroots lobbying?
• Can a statement by one person ever be attributed to another? For example, are statements made by an organization’s s members on their personal social media pages attributable to that organization?
• When lobbying statements are re-posted, retweeted, or otherwise amplified, when are the statements (and associated costs) attributable to the original author, as opposed to the subsequent “reposting entity”?
• Is an online post or tweet that provides a hyperlink to a lobbying website reportable activity?
• What are the expenditures made in connection with social media activity that could be considered “expenses” under the Lobbying Act?