More transparency for online political campaigning

The government is promising voters that online election and referendum campaigns will have ‘the same transparency’ as is given in leaflets and on posters.

Election leaflets and newspapers have to include who made and paid for the material, although there is no rule on how prominent this branding should be. In last year’s election, the Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems were criticised for mimicking local newspapers or official letters.

However, according the most recent Electoral Commission figures, there has been a dramatic shift away from leaflets and newspapers towards online advertising, going up from three per cent of total spend in 2011 to 42.8 per cent in 2017.

Until now, online political advertising has been largely unregulated in the UK and campaign material is not required by law to be truthful or factually accurate, or to say who is paying for it. Most noticeably, the Conservative Party has been accused of misleading voters when it rebranded its press office Twitter account as Fact Check UK during a TV debate at the 2019 General Election.

The government now wants material from parties and campaign groups to carry a ‘digital imprint’ showing who is behind it. Electoral reform campaigners said this ‘must be just the start’ of ‘cleaning up’ UK democracy.

Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: "For too long, our democracy has been wide open to anonymous 'dark ads', dodgy donors, and foreign interference online. This won't solve all that, but it will help to plug one of the many leaks in HMS Democracy."

Under the government's plans, to be revealed by Constitutional Affair Minister Chloe Smith, a ‘digital imprint’ would have to be displayed as part of online content - such as a video or a graphic. However, the government says that where this is not possible it should be located in an ‘accessible alternative location linked to the material’.