Thread by @NickCohen4

Conservatives ensure the next election can be corrupted by Facebook, big money and foreign interference- me in @ObserverUK on failing state Britain

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@ObserverUK Here are the dangers. In July the Commons DCMS committee said: "Urgent legislation should be brought forward at once to bring electoral law in line with digital campaigning techniques.” There has been no legistlation.
theguardian.com/politics/2019/…

@ObserverUK In September Full Fact showed how the Conservative Party was doctoring BBC news reports and using them as propaganda on Facebook. "The US internet giants shouldn’t be the ones setting the rules for British elections," it said. But that's where we are fullfact.org/blog/2019/sep/…

@ObserverUK In 2017!!!! The Committee on Standards in Public Life called on "government, social media companies, political parties, the police, broadcast and print media" to work to limit violence and intimidation in election campaigns. Hardly any reforms made gov.uk/government/pub…

@ObserverUK Johnson is stamping his foot and talking about calling his government out on strike. If he's got the time to do that, he's got the time to pass emergency legislation to protect the integrity of the democractic process.

@ObserverUK If he doesn't, we can conclude elections that are open to abuse are exactly what he and the Conservative party want

@ObserverUK In a letter to MPs @FullFact said there should be no election until we have
Transparency of online campaigning
Transparency of online advertising
A protocol for warning the public about interference.
If there were the political will, it could be done now
fullfact.org/blog/2019/sep/…