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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 115 / Thursday, June 17, 2021 / Rules and Regulations sponsorship identification rules will apply to any programming broadcast pursuant to a section 325c permit. The Commission notes, however, that the section 325c permit holders are not required to maintain an online public inspection file. Accordingly, a section 325c permit holder shall place copies of the disclosures required along with the name of the program to which the disclosures were appended in the International Bureaus public filing System IBFS under the relevant IBFS
section 325c permit file. The filing must state the date and time the program aired. In the case of repeat airings of the program, those additional dates and times should also be included. Where an aural announcement was made, its contents must be reduced to writing and placed in the IBFS in the same manner.
70. First Amendment Considerations.
Consistent with the NPRM, the Commission finds that the foreign sponsorship identification rules the Commission adopts in this document comport with the strictures of the First Amendment to the Constitution, even under the highest level of scrutiny. As discussed above and at length in the NPRM, the Government has a compelling interest in ensuring that the public is aware of when a party has sponsored content on a broadcast station. The Commission finds that interest is even more important when a foreign governmental entity is involved in the sponsorship of the programming material, and that transparency to American audiences as to the sponsorship of such programming is a compelling interest. Having narrowed the rules even further than initially proposed, the Commission finds the final rules to be narrowly tailored to fulfill a compelling government interest using the least restrictive means to serve that goal. That being said, consistent with the NPRMs further tentative conclusion, the Commission believes the disclosure requirement the Commission adopts in this document will be evaluated under a less restrictive, intermediate scrutiny standard applied to content neutral restrictions on broadcasters and thus will be upheld if narrowly tailored to achieve a substantial government interest. Moreover, because the disclosure requirement is content neutralthat is, it does not ban any type of speech but merely requires factual disclosure of the source of certain of programmingthe Commission believes that the rules comply with the First Amendment as they are narrowly tailored to achieve a substantial
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Government interest. Thus, the Commission finds that, regardless of the level of scrutiny applied, its foreign sponsorship identification rules satisfy the First Amendment.
71. In addition, the Commission has significantly narrowed the scope of the programming covered by this rule and minimized both the amount of speech potentially affected and the compliance burdens placed on broadcast licensees to focus on the context in which the record shows there are significant transparency concerns. As discussed above, the disclosure will now be required only for programming aired pursuant to a lease of airtime if directly or indirectly provided by a foreign governmental entity. By focusing the foreign sponsorship identification rules on leased programming, the Commission excludes from coverage programming that does not raise the same level of transparency concerns and a significant number of broadcast stations that do not engage in such leasing agreements and virtually all non-commercial, educational broadcasters, which rarely lease time to third parties in the manner discussed.
72. Additionally, based on comments in the record, the Commission has clarified above how broadcast stations can comply with the narrowed scope of the rules to ensure that they are no more burdensome than necessary to serve the vital need for transparency about who is attempting to influence viewers. For example, the Commission has adopted the commenters suggestion that if the programming already contains an appropriate disclosure pursuant to FARA that conveys the same information required by the Commissions rules and that is aired with at least the same frequency, then the station need not apply an additional disclosure.
73. Ultimately, the rules the Commission adopts in this document are a minimal extension of the longstanding sponsorship identification rules required by 73.1212 of its rules and well within the authority granted under section 317 of the Act. Similarly, the Commission believes its rules are consistent with, and not duplicative of, the equally long-standing labeling requirement contained in FARA. As such, the Commission finds that the modification of the sponsorship identification rules the Commission adopts herein is entirely consistent with the existing statutes and precedent in this area and complies with the First Amendment.
74. Broadcasters have stated that focusing the rules on the type of programming subject to FARA

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disclosures and exempting inconsequential programming would appropriately focus the Commissions rules on foreign propaganda, rather than the broad array of broadcast content that raised a host of concerns, including First Amendment issues, for NAB and other commenters. Fox similarly states that the rules should apply to longer programming provided by a FARA
registrant and aired pursuant to a lease agreement. NAB based its previous claim that the rules would not withstand either intermediate or strict scrutiny on the assertion that they are duplicative of FARA obligations and thus fail to serve a compelling or substantial Government interest. As the Commission has discussed above, its foreign sponsorship identification rules apply to entities and programming not necessarily covered by FARA because they impose obligations directly on broadcasters and their programming suppliers. Further, the rules the Commission adopts herein promote greater transparency by requiring identification of the specific foreign government attempting to influence American viewers rather than referring viewers to a Government website to review. For these reasons, the Commission concludes that its modified foreign sponsorship identification rules comply with the First Amendment.
75. Cost-Benefit Analysis. The NPRM
sought comment on the benefits and costs associated with adopting foreign sponsorship identification rules. The NPRM also requested specific data and analysis in support of any claimed costs and benefits. No commenter provided quantified calculations of the benefits or costs of the proposed rules.
Nevertheless, the Commission finds that by limiting the proposed rules to the circumstances stated above, the costs associated with the rules are reduced significantly from the initial proposal.
Research reviewed by Commission staff also suggests that there are measurable benefits to sponsorship identification disclosures. Moreover, the lack of transparency regarding foreign influence and foreign government sponsored media has become a major public concern, including in Congress and for the United States Department of State.
The public filing requirement will provide data on the extent of foreign government sponsored programming airing on broadcast stations. Therefore, the Commission finds that the costs associated with adopting the foreign sponsorship identification rules, as modified herein, do not outweigh the public benefits the Commission has identified regarding transparency of the
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