Last week, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) released an Advisory Opinion granting permission to include Twitter handles instead of, or in addition to, full names in disclaimer notifications on Twitter.
Great America PAC and The Committee to Defend the President, two political action committees (PACs), regularly use the social media site to publish tweets that require disclaimer statements. Each made a separate request to the FEC for approval to replace or supplement their names with their Twitter handles. Likewise, they questioned if providing their handles would satisfy disclaimer requirements to include permanent address, telephone number and web address. The FEC ruled that Twitter handles serve as acceptable identification for the name of the organization in disclaimers, as long as it is clear who has funded the communication. However, the FEC held that Twitter handles are not acceptable replacements for the requirements for listing permanent street addresses, telephone numbers and web addresses as required by the Federal Election Campaign Act.
