A Bill to Prevent Deceptive Social Media Rebranding in Campaigns
Would have banned the tactic of building a social media audience before converting the account into a campaign platform — the exact strategy used in the 2025 election fraud case.
Summary
In the 2025 election, a campaign used a pre-built social media account to spread content — including a false sexual assault accusation — to an audience that had been cultivated before the campaign officially began. The Constitutional Council found the campaign guilty of fraud, but the tactic itself was never banned.
This bill would have prohibited any individual, ticket, or campaign staff member from creating or promoting a social media account for the purpose of building an audience with the intent to later convert it into a campaign platform. Any account converted into a campaign platform would have been required to have been created after the official adjournment of the candidates’ meeting.
The Senate voted it down.
Full Text
117th Student Senate of the University of South Carolina
Sponsored by Senators Whisenant and Lapsley
SECTION 1: Section 4-3-30 of Chapter 4 of the Student Government Codes is to be amended to read as follows:
Section 4-3-30. Electronic Communication
Phone calls, text messaging, or other forms of electronic communication may only be directed at individuals who have a pre-existing relationship with the candidate or the campaign member.
No candidate may conduct a mass campaign through any listserv or webpage operated, owned, compiled, generated, created, or hosted by the University, a university department, a university employee, or a university subsidiary.
No individual, ticket, or campaign staff member may create or promote a social media account or digital communication channel for the purpose of preemptively building an audience or following with the intent to later convert it into a campaign account. Any account that is converted into a campaign platform must have been created after the official adjournment of the candidates’ meeting.
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