Can TV stations restrict the content of political ads placed by candidates for federal office?
By Allegra Taylor
Copy link
Copy featured image
NO
TV channels can't censor or reject political advertisements after a legally qualified candidate has purchased air time. Broadcast stations are subsequently exempt from any potential liability that may be associated with the ad's content.
Federal Communications Commission regulations entitle presidential, vice presidential and congressional candidates to “reasonable access” to commercial airwaves, regardless of the station's political leaning. A TV station may legally choose not to sell advertisements to state or local candidates.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
