Will regulation on digital campaigning be strong enough for an early election?

Politics Explained: The Electoral Commission wants strict controls on all such material, but politicians may be less keen, says Andrew Grice

For online campaigns, there are virtually no rules: electoral law dates back to 2000 (AFP/Getty)

One of the first things the Conservatives did after Boris Johnson became leader was to test different ads about him on Facebook. It wasn’t a surprise, as his senior Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings relied heavily on social media as director of the Vote Leave campaign at the 2016 referendum.

Labour, which outgunned the Tories on social media at the 2017 general election, will not want to be outspent during the normally quiet summer period and will respond in kind. Anyone would think another election is coming, and it probably is.

But the contest will come too soon for regulators, MPs and pressure groups who want tougher controls over online “dark ads” targeting individuals off the public radar. The days when political parties spent millions on nationwide poster campaigns and full-page newspaper ads are over. They see social media ads as more effective, and they are much cheaper. The parties’ national spending on Facebook ads rose from about £1.3m at the 2015 election to about £3.2m at the 2017 contest.

The independent Electoral Commission, which regulates the funding of parties but not their campaigns, is urgently seeking new powers and bigger fines for those who break the rules. For online campaigns, there are virtually no rules: electoral law dates back to the 2000 Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act. Political campaigns are not covered by the ad industry’s code of practice, which says ads should be “legal, honest, decent and truthful”.

The commission wants all digital campaign material to carry an imprint saying who is behind it, and proposes a ban on spending on election or referendum campaigns by foreign organisations.

Theresa May’s government agreed that online political ads should include such a label (as ads in the print media already must). Regulations are due to be approved by parliament “later this year”. Parties will have to provide greater clarity on what they spend on digital campaigns, but not until 2021. The government will encourage social media companies to provide “ad libraries” of online political ads, but does not back calls for a public register. It insists there is “no evidence” of foreign interference.

Critics say there is a lack of urgency. Damian Collins, Tory chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: “I don’t understand why the government is taking so long. I think we should be looking at emergency legislation to bring our electoral law up to date. At least to establish the basic principles that the same requirements that exist in a poster or a leaflet should exist in an online ad and on Facebook.”

Piecemeal reform is more likely than a “big bang”. Regulators such as the commission and the Information Commissioner’s Office (which covers data protection) are likely to be given more resources and investigatory powers and allowed to impose tougher sanctions.

The Coalition for Reform in Political Advertising, which includes advertisers, wants factual claims in political ads to be pre-cleared and a watchdog to regulate content.

However, the politicians’ appetite for reform may be limited. The parties have never signed up to the code of advertising practice and are unlikely to want to restrict their own freedom to run “attack ads” aimed at their opponents.