New Bipartisan Bill Puts Social Media Influencers in FARA Focus

Key Takeaways

A new bipartisan House bill would expressly bring social media influencers within the Foreign Agents Registration Act’s (FARA’s) definition of a publicity agent. The Foreign Propaganda Disclosure Act, introduced on Aug. 27, would define a social media influencer as any person with a monetized social media account.

The proposal puts into sharp focus a modern foreign disclosure issue that existing law already reaches in important respects. FARA can apply to political activity, public relations, political consulting and informational materials disseminated through social media on behalf of a foreign principal. The legislation would make explicit that social media influencers can fall within the statute’s publicity agent framework when the other requirements of FARA are satisfied.

The bill reflects continued congressional interest in adapting FARA to changes in communications technology even as broader efforts to reform the statute have repeatedly stalled. A newly updated Congressional Research Service report identifies social media and digital informational materials as recurring subjects of recent FARA legislation. The proposal also arrives as the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is reconsidering the regulations implementing the statute and emphasizing foreign influence conducted through public-facing activity.

A New FARA Proposal Focuses on Social Media Influencers

Congress has struggled for years to enact meaningful changes to FARA. A new bipartisan House bill nevertheless puts into sharp focus one of the statute’s increasingly important modern challenges. Foreign influence can now be carried through social media, online creators and other digital channels that bear little resemblance to the traditional lobbying and public relations activity most often associated with FARA.

On Aug. 27, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) introduced the Foreign Propaganda Disclosure Act with a bipartisan group of cosponsors that include Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) and Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.). The bill has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

The legislation is brief. It would amend FARA’s definition of a publicity agent to expressly include a social media influencer and define that term as any person with a monetized social media account on a covered social media platform.

The proposal does not establish a separate FARA regime for influencers. Nor would merely maintaining a monetized social media account trigger registration.

Instead, the bill would expressly identify social media influencers as persons capable of serving as publicity agents under the existing statutory framework. The other requirements of FARA would continue to apply, including the need for the requisite relationship with a foreign principal, covered activity in the United States and the absence of an applicable exemption.

That distinction is important both legally and practically.

FARA Already Reaches Digital Communications

The legislation addresses an area that is not entirely new to FARA.

The statute extends beyond direct lobbying of Congress or the Executive Branch. Depending on the circumstances, FARA can require registration by persons acting on behalf of foreign principals who engage in political activities, serve as publicity agents or political consultants, solicit or distribute certain funds, or represent foreign interests before the federal government.

FARA also imposes separate requirements for informational materials disseminated on behalf of foreign principals.

DOJ currently treats social media posts as informational materials when they are disseminated by a registered foreign agent on behalf of a foreign principal. Those materials are subject to filing requirements and, where applicable, must include the conspicuous disclosure identifying the foreign principal on whose behalf the material is distributed.

The legislation therefore would not introduce social media activity into FARA for the first time.

Its significance lies elsewhere. The bill would write social media influencers directly into a statutory definition that predates the modern creator economy and make clear that the identity of the messenger does not place otherwise covered activity beyond the reach of FARA.

That matters as foreign principals increasingly communicate with U.S. audiences through individuals whose influence derives from their digital following rather than from a conventional lobbying, public relations or media role.

The Disclosure Problem Has Changed With the Technology

FARA is fundamentally a disclosure statute. Its premise is that the public should be able to identify when certain political, advocacy and public communications activities are undertaken on behalf of a foreign principal.

Technology has complicated how that premise operates in practice.

A communication campaign no longer necessarily runs through a registered lobbying firm, a traditional public relations company or a paid advertisement whose sponsor is readily identifiable. Messages can move through creators, podcasts, livestreams, short form video, sponsored posts and other forms of content that may appear to an audience as the independent views of the individual presenting them.

The Foreign Propaganda Disclosure Act focuses on one part of that problem by expressly identifying the influencer as a potential publicity agent.

The breadth of the proposed definition is notable. The legislation requires only that the individual have a monetized social media account to satisfy the definition of social media influencer. It does not require that the foreign principal itself provide the monetization.

That breadth does not dispense with FARA’s other statutory requirements. An influencer would still need to have the relevant relationship with a foreign principal and undertake covered activity before registration obligations could arise.

The proposal instead changes the statutory vocabulary to reflect a communications environment in which an individual with a large online audience can perform functions once associated primarily with institutional public relations and publicity operations.

Congress Continues to Examine FARA in the Digital Environment

The proposal is also consistent with a broader pattern of congressional interest reflected in a newly updated Congressional Research Service report on FARA.

The September 2026 CRS report reviews numerous efforts in recent Congresses to amend FARA. Those proposals have addressed registration and disclosure requirements, informational materials, exemptions, DOJ investigative authority and restrictions applicable to certain former officials.

Social media has become a recurring part of that legislative activity.

CRS notes that several proposals have sought to expressly define social media posts and email communications as FARA informational materials. The report also describes the practical difficulties created by applying a disclosure regime developed for more static forms of communication to social media content that can be shared, altered, amplified and distributed across platforms.

That history gives the Luna proposal broader significance even if the bill itself does not advance.

Congress has repeatedly examined whether a statutory framework enacted long before the rise of modern digital communications adequately captures the manner in which foreign principals now seek to reach American audiences. The new proposal moves that inquiry from the content itself to the individuals who create and distribute it.

Congressional and DOJ Attention Are Developing at the Same Time

The bill also arrives during a consequential period for FARA more generally.

DOJ is currently completing a major rulemaking concerning the regulations implementing the statute. Among other issues, the rulemaking addresses informational materials and the requirements applicable to digital communications.

On Sept. 16, DOJ separately issued an unusual public warning concerning liability for unregistered foreign agents. The Department specifically referenced undisclosed agents, intermediaries, covert funding and public activity undertaken in furtherance of foreign interests.

The congressional proposal and DOJ activity address different questions. Together, however, they reflect continuing attention to the transparency of foreign influence activity in the United States and to forms of communication that do not fit neatly within traditional conceptions of foreign lobbying.

For companies and organizations working with foreign principals, the implications extend beyond individual influencers. Creator campaigns often involve public relations firms, marketing agencies, talent representatives, consultants and other intermediaries. The relevant FARA analysis may therefore turn on the relationships and activities across an entire communications structure.

What Companies and Organizations Should Be Doing Now

1. Review social media and influencer relationships involving foreign principals. Organizations should understand who selects creators, who communicates with them, how they are compensated, what messages they are asked to convey and the role the foreign principal plays in developing or approving the activity.

2. Analyze the underlying relationship rather than the label attached to it. Calling an individual an influencer, consultant, spokesperson, brand ambassador or independent creator does not resolve the FARA question. The analysis turns on the statutory relationship with the foreign principal and the activities actually performed.

3. Consider informational material obligations separately. Organizations already registered under FARA should ensure that social media posts and other digital content disseminated on behalf of foreign principals are evaluated for applicable filing and disclosure requirements.

4. Map intermediary relationships. Foreign principals frequently reach creators through public relations companies, marketing agencies, consultants and other third parties. FARA analysis should account for how direction, requests, funding and communications move through those relationships.

Looking Ahead

The Foreign Propaganda Disclosure Act has been introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. Whether Congress takes further action remains to be seen.

The broader issue is unlikely to disappear.

Congress has repeatedly considered changes to FARA without undertaking a comprehensive modernization of the statute. At the same time, the technology through which foreign principals can communicate with U.S. audiences continues to evolve faster than the statutory framework itself.

The Luna proposal puts one consequence of that divergence squarely before Congress. Social media influencers can now perform many of the same functions in shaping public opinion that historically were performed through more conventional publicity and public relations channels.

Whether Congress ultimately amends FARA or DOJ continues to address those developments through regulation and enforcement, companies and organizations working with foreign principals should expect the use of social media, creators and digital communications to remain an increasingly important part of the FARA analysis.