This week I've been asked a lot about the lack of regualtion around online political campaigning in the UK, so I want to lay out my thoughts based on some work I've done as Special Advisory for the @HLDemoDigital Inquiry.
Over the last decade pressure has been growing on the Government to regulate online campaigning, but since 2017/8 this pressure has really ramped up. And yet no action has been taken. As part of my SpAd role, I conducted a review of 14 recent reports that have recommended change
The overview of this work can be found here: katedommett.com/uploads/1/1/2/…. I'm happy to talk through the spreadsheet (which lists recommendations and govt responses) but here are the main points:
Of the 14 reports I looked at, the Govt has only issued responses to 7 of them. They've not yet responded to major reports including the Electoral Commissions 2018 report on digital campaigning, and the ICO's report on Democracy Disrupted
A total of 230 discrete recommendations on digital have been made in these reports that relate to different digital issues. They call for change in the tech industry (27), more regulatory powers (27), changes to election campaign finance (24) and child safety (20).
Although the reports focus on different goals, there is consensus around the need for:
a)The Competitions and Market Authority to conduct a comprehensive audit of the operation of the advertising market on social media
b)Digital Imprints on election material
a)The Competitions and Market Authority to conduct a comprehensive audit of the operation of the advertising market on social media
b)Digital Imprints on election material
c)Increased transparency in political advertising
d)Increased powers for the Electoral Commission
e)A more united strategy in relation to digital literacy
Despite consensus, there has been limited action on many of these goals
d)Increased powers for the Electoral Commission
e)A more united strategy in relation to digital literacy
Despite consensus, there has been limited action on many of these goals
Looking at the recommendations as a whole, the Government often agree with recommendations, but tend to cite existing action or to point to new action to be advanced through the Online Harms White Paper, but this legislation is likely to take many years to pass
This means, that even where the Government agree, they are taking limited (if any) new action to actually bring about change.
For the GE, this means that we lack even basic improvements in electoral law, meaning there will be little transparency or ability to sanction
For the GE, this means that we lack even basic improvements in electoral law, meaning there will be little transparency or ability to sanction
Given the current interest in digital campaigning, and growing use of this tool, this lack of change poses deep problems as we won't have the information we need to ensure democratic values are enforced.
It's for this reason, that we need urgent change in electoral law. We need the government to ensure that established democratic principles are upheld, and that digital activities can be subject to oversight.
