‘Democracy under threat’
The Electoral Commission has spent a year looking “at how digital campaigning was used in the EU referendum and the 2017 general election”. On 26 June, it published its recommendations [pdf]. The commission’s chair, John Holmes, says:
we have seen serious allegations of misinformation, misuse of personal data, and overseas interference. Concerns that our democracy may be under threat have emerged.
The report, he says, is a:
call to action for the UK’s governments and parliaments to change the rules to make it easier for voters to know who is targeting them online…
A problem for the Conservatives
After Carole Cadwalladr’s series of explosive revelations about Cambridge Analytica and Leave.EU in the Observer, this may seem like a no-brainer. But the recommendations have serious implications for Britain’s political parties too – especially the Conservative Party.
The Conservatives have relied on digital campaigning far more heavily than any other party during recent UK elections. In 2017, the party spent £2.1m on Facebook advertising, dwarfing Labour’s £577,000 and the Liberal Democrats’ £412,000. And in 2015, it spent £1.2m compared to Labour’s £16,454.
This spending included Facebook adverts targeted at voters in key constituencies. As BuzzFeed reported on 7 June 2017:
The Conservatives have launched a barrage of targeted Facebook adverts ahead of tomorrow’s general election that make the most of a previously unnoticed loophole in electoral law to enable the party to spend a near-unlimited amount on localised messages in key target constituencies…
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/20 ... ouncement/
