RCFP: Proposed FARA rule could impact journalists

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is urging the U.S. Justice Department to reconsider parts of a proposed rule that would expand a federal law that, were its enforcement not carefully supervised, could chill First Amendment-protected news reporting that the government dislikes.

In January 2025, the Justice Department proposed a new rule that would amend the implementation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, a famously expansive World War II-era statute that could be read to require anyone engaging in political or advocacy activities on behalf of foreign entities to register with the Justice Department.

In public comments submitted to the Justice Department on March 3, 2025, the Reporters Committee acknowledged that the proposed rule does not, on its face, expand FARA to journalistic activity. However, the Reporters Committee argues, its provisions expanding the Justice Department’s enforcement discretion could heighten the risk that it could be used to target constitutionally protected activity, including news coverage that the government perceives as critical or unfavorable.    

The proposed rule would require entities or individuals to register with the government when a foreign agency merely “influences” their activities, which could include the news media’s regular interactions with foreign sources, the Reporters Committee’s comments note.

While FARA includes a narrow media carve-out, the exemption doesn’t apply to some news organizations, like those with non-U.S. citizens on their boards of directors. The proposed rule would widen FARA’s registration requirements in a way that could sweep in some media outlets or journalists who report on foreign affairs, the Reporters Committee’s comments add. 

Lastly, the proposed rule’s expanded disclosure requirements would force publishers to include labels on informational materials that associate the publishers with a foreign principal, violating constitutional protections for the exercise of editorial discretion.

“Were FARA enforced consistent with its expansive and ambiguous text, those actions would flatly violate the First Amendment,” the Reporters Committee argues. “And certain provisions in the proposed rule would significantly add to the overbreadth and vagueness in the law.”