WAR ON THE WEB TROLLS
No 10 vows crackdown on social media abuse with fines for fake news
ONLINE political adverts must make clear who has paid for them under a Government crackdown on fake news and social media abuse.
Parties who fail to declare their links to digital campaigns – even comments on Twitter – could be hit with huge fines under the plans, announced in the wake of a highly critical report by MPs into the ‘crisis in our democracy’.
In further moves by Downing Street to tame the lawless world of politics on the internet, ‘trolls’ who threaten candidates will be banned from standing for public office.
And complex election law will be simplified to make it clear when voters are being intimidated.
Chloe Smith, Minister for the Constitution, said last night: ‘This Government recognises that rising intimidation in public life is stopping talented people from standing for election and putting voters off politics. We want to tackle this extremely serious issue.
‘We are consulting on three new measures that will protect voters, candidates and campaigners so they can make their choice at the ballot box or stand for public service without fear of being victims of misinformation or abuse.
‘I would encourage everyone to take part in this consultation.’
It will look at whether the requirement for election pamphlets to have ‘imprints’ – showing who produced them – should be extended to digital material.
Downing Street hopes this will help increase transparency and ease fears over ‘fake news’ and foreign interference, particularly by Russia, in polls worldwide.
The review will also look at creating a new offence of intimidating parliamentary candidates and campaigners, and amending the existing law against ‘having undue influence’ on voters to make it clear what threats are illegal. It follows a warning from MPs that Britain is facing a ‘crisis in our democracy’ caused by the abuse of personal data to target voters and the use of social media to spread lies.
A damning report by the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee accused tech giants of acting ‘irresponsibly’ with the huge amounts of information they have gathered on users.
Facebook allowed developers to harvest sensitive data and to use it to target adverts at voters, while Russian agencies tried to influence how Britons voted, but the firm ‘tried to frustrate scrutiny’ during the MPs’ inquiry.
The committee recommends that technology firms are held responsible for ‘harmful and illegal’ content posted on their platforms, and that they should pay new taxes to fund Britain’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office.
It also calls for the Competition and Market Authority to investigate how many fake accounts are active on social media.
Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, said the committee’s inquiry is ‘testament to the global challenges facing democracy in the digital age’.