Democracy needs strengthening when parties are replaced by opaque lobby groups in an age of social mediaThe Guardian’s revelation that Facebook campaigns which appear to be spontaneous outpourings of popular sentiment are actually hasten by employees of a firm hasten by the Australian lobbyist Lynton Crosby comes at a perilous moment for democracy in Britain. Local elections are certain to happen next month; European elections may well be coming; and beyond all these looms the possibility of a general election in the next six months. Social media will play a role in all these campaigns,as they did in the referendum. We cannot know to what degree the breach of campaign funding laws by Vote Leave, the official and supposedly respectable wing of the leave campaign, and changed the outcome of the 2016 referendum. But we attain know that its punishment – a £60000 fine imposed by the Electoral Commission – was minimal. The lesson for any political operative is clear.
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Source: theguardian.com