What is digital lobbying? Tactics, disclosure rules and how it is run
The short answer
Digital lobbying is the use of online channels to influence legislation or government decisions. It covers three kinds of activity: contacting officials directly through email, direct messages and social media; reaching the policy audience (legislators, their staff and the people who brief them) with targeted paid media; and mobilising the public to contact lawmakers through digital calls to action.
None of it replaces the meeting, the testimony or the relationship. What it changes is reach and timing: a campaign can put its argument in front of a committee’s staff during a markup week, or turn a few thousand supporters into a visible wave of contact before a vote. And because it works, US states have started writing it into their lobbying laws.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Lobbying rules are set state by state and change often; a campaign’s counsel should confirm what is reportable before it launches.
Digital lobbying, digital advocacy, grassroots lobbying
The vocabulary varies more than the practice. In Europe, “digital lobbying” is the common term for the online side of public affairs. In the United States the same work is more often called digital advocacy, and the part that asks the public to act is called grassroots lobbying or, in some statutes, indirect lobbying.
The distinction the law cares about is simpler than any of these labels:
- Direct lobbying is communication with an official. Online, that means email, direct messages, posts on an official’s page and, in some states, tagging them.
- Grassroots or indirect lobbying is communication with the public that urges it to contact officials. Online, that means paid social, programmatic display, video, search ads and email campaigns carrying a call to action.
Everything else (awareness advertising, issue content, a coalition website) is generally advocacy rather than lobbying until it crosses one of those two lines. We cover the wider discipline in what grassroots advocacy is.
The tactics
Direct digital contact. Email remains the workhorse of legislative contact. Social media adds public channels: a reply or tag is visible to an official’s followers as well as the official, which is exactly why several states now treat organisational tags as contact.
Reaching the policy audience. Legislators and staff cannot be targeted as named individuals on the major ad platforms, so campaigns target place and context instead: devices observed around a legislature, the neighbourhoods where staff work, and the moments that matter, such as hearings, markups and fly-in days. We set out how this works in federal Washington in geofencing Capitol Hill, and the same method applies to statehouses.
Grassroots mobilisation. Paid social and search ads that send supporters to a letter-writing or call tool are the most common digital lobbying campaign, and the most regulated. The call to action is what turns an issue ad into grassroots lobbying in most statutes.
The issue record. Staff increasingly check an issue, and an organisation, with an AI assistant before a meeting. A clear, well-sourced position page and a coalition site built to be cited shape that answer. This is not lobbying in the legal sense, but it decides what the official has read before the lobbying starts.
Issue and political ads also go through platform review before they run: advertiser verification, creative review and, on most platforms, a paid-for-by disclosure. We cover that process in political ad approvals for issue ads.
When digital activity counts as lobbying
There are two layers of rules in the United States, and they treat digital work very differently.
Federally, public communications are not lobbying contacts. The Lobbying Disclosure Act excludes any communication “made in a speech, article, publication or other material that is distributed and made available to the public, or through radio, television, cable television, or other medium of mass communication” from the definition of a lobbying contact (2 U.S.C. § 1602(8)(B)). Federal registration turns on direct contact with covered officials, so a public-facing digital campaign does not, on its own, create one.
The states are where digital activity is being written in. Some states now name social media, direct messages and online advertising in their lobbying rules; others define lobbying broadly enough, “by any other medium”, to reach a digital campaign. As of September 2026, these are the states whose statutes, regulations or regulator guidance address it:
| State | What can count, digitally | Threshold and timing | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Direct messages to an official, posts on an official’s page, and organisation-account posts that tag an official are direct lobbying. A grassroots “call to action” can be a social media communication, and reportable expenses include sponsored posts, SEO and advertising. | Registration once combined compensation and expenses exceed $5,000 in a calendar year. | 19 NYCRR 943.6, 943.7, 943.10 |
| Idaho | ”Indirect lobbying” expressly includes email, text messaging, direct messaging, online advertising and social media messaging. | Each indirect lobbying expenditure of $100 or more reported within 48 hours; reportable public communications must state “Paid for by”. In force since 1 July 2025. | Idaho Code §§ 74-702, 74-705, 74-708 |
| California | Paying to urge others to contact officials is a “payment to influence”. The regulator’s examples include electronic commercials, social media messaging, and text and email advertising. | Organisations that do not employ a lobbyist file Form 645 once such payments reach $5,000 in a calendar quarter. | Gov. Code §§ 82045, 86115; FPPC fact sheet |
| Washington | Grassroots lobbying campaigns presented to the public. The regulator’s guidance counts websites, email lists and other online activities. | Sponsors register once spending exceeds $1,500 in a month or $3,000 in three months (2026 figures). | RCW 29B.50.100; WAC 390-20-150 |
| Pennsylvania | ”Indirect communication” by any medium that encourages the public to act, expressly including electronic media advertising. | Registration and reporting thresholds apply per quarter ($4,000 from 2026). | 65 Pa.C.S. § 13A03 |
| Oregon | Lobbying includes soliciting others to influence legislative action; the regulator’s guide lists social media platforms among possible lobbying activities. | Registration once lobbying passes 24 hours or $100 in a calendar quarter, or on being hired to lobby. | ORS 171.725; OGEC guide |
| Texas | Direct communication with officials expressly includes email and “other electronic means”. Texas has no grassroots registration regime, but paid legislative advertising must identify itself and its sponsor. | Registration above $880 a quarter in lobbying expenditures or $1,760 a quarter in compensation. | Gov’t Code ch. 305; 1 TAC ch. 34 |
Two points in New York’s rules are worth reading closely, because they are the most detailed in the country. First, a post that is simply intended for the public, without being sent to or tagging an official, is not direct lobbying; but if it carries a call to action, it can still be grassroots lobbying. Second, the people who make the campaign are not the lobbyists: the regulations say that advertisement writers, website managers and hosts, and media buyers, standing alone, are not engaged in grassroots lobbying. The reporting obligation sits with the organisation behind the campaign.
We found no other state whose lobbying statute or regulations name social media or online advertising, but many define lobbying broadly enough to reach a digital campaign, and the list has grown year on year. Treat the table as a starting point for counsel, not a substitute.
What this means for a campaign
Four practical consequences follow from the rules above, wherever the campaign runs.
Decide reportability before launch, not after. Whether a campaign is reportable depends on the state, the spend, the content and who is paying. The call belongs to the campaign’s counsel, and it is easiest to make before the first impression is bought.
Keep spend records that match the filings. Where grassroots spending is reportable, regulators want it broken down: by date, by state, by activity. A media plan that records spend by line item, format, geography and flight date makes that a lookup rather than a reconstruction.
Mind the handles. Posting from an organisation’s account and tagging officials can be direct contact in some states; the same message from a personal account generally is not, unless that person is paid for it. Decide which accounts carry the campaign, and who can tag whom, as part of the plan.
Put the disclosure on the ad. Platforms already require a paid-for-by line on most issue ads, and states are adding their own: Idaho requires “Paid for by” on reportable lobbying communications, Washington requires the sponsor’s name and address on grassroots campaign materials, and Texas requires legislative advertising to identify its sponsor. Building it into every format from the start costs nothing and avoids a late rework.
Where Morris McLane fits
Morris McLane is not a lobbying firm and does not lobby. We are the digital execution layer that communications firms, government-relations teams and coalitions use for the online side of their work: paid reach to the policy audience, geofencing around the Hill and statehouses, issue and coalition sites built to be cited, and monitoring of what AI assistants say about the issue. The lobbying, and the judgement on what is reportable, stay with the client and their counsel; as New York’s rules put it, the people who write, host and buy a campaign are not, on that basis alone, the lobbyists. What we add is a campaign that is planned with those rules in mind and records its spend in the form a filing needs.
For the wider picture of the work, see our digital advocacy service.
Frequently asked questions
What is digital lobbying?
Digital lobbying is the use of online channels to influence legislation or government decisions: contacting officials directly through email, direct messages and social media, reaching the policy audience with targeted paid media, and mobilising the public to contact lawmakers through digital calls to action. It sits alongside traditional lobbying rather than replacing it, and in a growing number of US states parts of it are regulated and reportable in the same way as a meeting or a phone call.
Is posting about a bill on social media lobbying?
Usually not on its own. Under New York's rules, for example, a post that mentions a public official without tagging them is not direct lobbying. It can become reportable when it directly contacts an official (a direct message, a post on their page, or a tag from an organisation's account), or when it is part of a grassroots campaign that urges the public to contact officials. Rules differ by state, so the answer depends on where the campaign runs.
Does tagging a legislator on social media count as lobbying?
In New York it can. The state's lobbying regulations treat a post from an organisation's account that tags a public official as direct contact, which can make it reportable lobbying activity if the other conditions are met. A personal post generally is not, unless the person was specifically retained for their social media activity. Other states are less explicit, so treat tagging officials from an organisational account as something to clear with counsel first.
Are digital ads that urge people to contact their lawmakers reportable?
In several states they can be. Paid online advertising that asks the public to contact officials is the textbook case of grassroots (or indirect) lobbying, and states including New York, California and Idaho treat spending on it as reportable once thresholds are met. Federal lobbying disclosure is different: it is built around direct contact with covered officials and excludes material distributed to the public or through mass media from the definition of a lobbying contact.
Is digital lobbying legal?
Yes. Lobbying, online or offline, is lawful and protected activity in the United States. What the rules add is disclosure: registration, reporting of spending, and in some states a paid-for-by line on the communications themselves. Done openly and reported where required, a digital campaign aimed at lawmakers is simply lobbying with better reach.
