A Democratic group says it will file a formal complaint with federal regulators against three Republican organizations after a CNN investigation revealed that they shared internal polling data before the midterm elections by posting the information on anonymous Twitter accounts . The liberal advocacy group American Democracy Legal Fund alleged in a complaint meant to be filed Monday to the Federal Election Commission that the National Republican Congressional Committee , the American Action Network and American Crossroads broke federal rules that prohibit coordination between campaign committees and outside groups . `` The NRCC and outside groups appear to have engaged in illegal coordination through sharing internal polling data , '' according to the complaint , which was provided to CNN by American Democracy Legal Fund . `` By hiding their communications on a public website , Respondents intentionally tried to create a loophole in the coordination rules . Such an intentional effort to knowingly flout campaign finance laws can not be condoned . '' The complaint is based on a CNN report that detailed how the groups provided valuable polling data by posting it on Twitter accounts in a secret code . Even though the posts were gibberish without the code , posting the information on a public website could have provided a work-around to FEC anti-coordination rules and regulations that require outside polling data shared with campaign committees to be reported as a donation . Coordination could allow campaigns , which can not accept unlimited donations , to unfairly use the resources of outside groups , which can accept unlimited and anonymous donations . But the American Democracy Legal Defense Funda complaint argues that since the Twitter accounts could only be found and understood by those with prior knowledge of their existence , the activities do n't meet the threshold of being considered `` public . '' Further , according to the complaint , allowing the tactic would `` send a dangerous message to candidates '' that they can skirt election rules by encrypting the information shared . `` If the Commission were to find that Respondents did not engage in illegal coordination , then it would be sending the dangerous message to candidates , party committees , and outside organizations that they can coordinate their efforts so long as they nest their communications—no matter how cryptic or hidden—in a publicly available forum , '' the complaint reads . `` This is the wrong outcome . '' Spokespeople for the NRCC , American Action Network and American Crossroads did not respond to a request for comment . Republicans are n't the only ones using Twitter to communicate between groups that technically should n't be coordinating . Last week the Huffington Post revealed that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had used a Twitter account to aggregate details about where they would place ad buys . The Democratic account differed from the Republican ones in that it clearly labeled the intent of the profile and provided the code for how to decipher the tweets . A DCCC spokesman confirmed that they had used the account during the 2012 election , but that the information posted was already publicly available anyway . Republicans used at least two Twitter accounts to transmit polling data . One account used the name Bruno Gianelli , a character from the TV show The West Wing who advocated the use of soft money to influence elections . Campaign finance law experts told CNN that even the posts disguised with a secret code could be legal because of the public nature of the communications . `` It may bend common sense , but not necessarily the law , '' said Daniel Tokaji , a professor of Constitutional Law at Ohio State University , told CNN . `` A lot of things you and I would consider coordination are not coordination under the law . I do n't think sharing polling data is going to be enough to establish that the campaign was materially involved in decisions about content , target audience or timing . '' It is unclear whether the FEC , which will hold a hearing to determine whether to issue new campaign finance rules in February , will respond to the complaint . Officials from the commission said they could not comment on specific cases , but one commissioner told CNN that past lack of action from the agency has emboldened groups to stretch the boundaries of the law . `` The reality is I think there are a lot of people out there who have a fair degree of confidence that there is n't going to be any serious enforcement at the FEC so they can pretty much get away with whatever they want , '' FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub told CNN . `` It 's a very sad state of affairs . ''
A Democratic group filed a complaint against the GOP for using Twitter to secretly communicate . GOP groups used the accounts to send messages between campaign committees and outside groups . Experts are divided on the legality .