Social media challenges federal oversight of agency communications

Federal agencies’ growing use of social media is making it harder for Congress to monitor those communications to ensure they do not contain inappropriate political or policy statements, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service, a policy arm of Congress.

Federal agencies routinely communicate with the public to inform people of their rights and entitlements, provide information on the agencies' activities, inform them of risks and dangers and invite input into government deliberations. At the same time, there is a long history of lawmakers wrestling with the executive branch over the appropriate use of public funds for agency communications. To maintain separation of powers, Congress passed a law in 1919 stating that no federal agency can spend funding to encourage the public to contact members of Congress. In addition, most federal spending laws contain language forbidding agencies’ use of funds “for publicity or propaganda,” the CRS report states. However, while those laws are still in effect, they have been difficult to enforce because it has been hard to define “publicity” and “propaganda” and because of the complexities of new forms of digital media, the report adds.