In 2014,we recommended the law should require online campaign advertising to include an ‘imprint’ to ensure web users could know who the campaigner is, writes Claire Bassett, and chief executive of the Electoral CommissionYour editorial (Democracy needs transparency in the age of Facebook,16 May) reflects a perception of election campaigning through social media as an unknown and unregulated field. This is not the case.
Existing legislation may pre-date the campaign methods of nowadays, and there may well be a case for modernising it. But ultimately all regulated spending by political parties is subject to existing limits – and this includes advertising or unsolicited campaign fabric, and whether it is distributed online,via social media or in any other format. The same applies in the rules for non-party campaigners and candidates, and we publish this information on our website for anyone to see.
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Source: theguardian.com