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New legislation will regulate political advertising on social media

The move comes amid an international debate about how social media platforms handle political ads.

THE GOVERNMENT IS planning to introduce new legislation that will clamp down on paid-for political advertising on social media.

The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government will draft legislation that will regulate “the transparency of online paid political advertising within election periods”.

In a statement issued this evening, the government said the objectives of the policy are as follows:

  • to protect the integrity of elections, ensure they are free and fair, and not captured by a narrow range of interests
  • to respect the fundamental right to freedom of expression and the value of political advertising and its importance to democratic and electoral processes while ensuring that regulation of expression meets the requirements of lawfulness, necessity and proportionality
  • to respect the role of the internet in the public sphere of political discourse and ensure that the public have access to legitimate information required in order to make autonomous voting decisions

The legislation will apply to online platforms, as sellers or intermediaries of political advertising, and buyers of political adverts.

The obligation will be placed on the seller to determine that an advert falls under the scope of the regulation.

Online paid-for political advertisement will be required to be labelled as such and clearly display certain information, or a link to the information, “in a clear and conspicuous manner”.

The move comes amid an international debate about how social media platforms such as Facebook handle political ads

In a statement, a government spokesperson noted that certain platforms have already “taken steps to combat such disinformation, but there is general consensus that regulation should not be left to the market”.

“This proposal to regulate is limited to online political advertising and is seen as an interim measure until the establishment of a Statutory Electoral Commission which will oversee a wider reform of the electoral processes,” they added. 

The detailed proposal is outlined in the progress report of the Interdepartmental Group on the Security of Ireland’s Electoral Process and Disinformation which will be published shortly. It follows on from a public consultation and open policy forum on the issue.

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    Mute Paraic
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    Nov 5th 2019, 11:37 PM

    How do you know that the comments you read in the Journal aren’t being manipulated? For example, you may see several comments slating a particular candidate that you may have thought was voteworthy. You may then notice that the comment is supported by loads of thumbs up. This may lead you to believe that the comment was truthful, when in fact it was a complete dishonest fabrication and slander. It’s a trivial matter to manipulate the thumbs system on here, especially if you are team of hackers wanting to influence elections.

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    Mute Sean O' Donovan
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    Nov 5th 2019, 11:46 PM

    @Paraic: Great point, though we know for sure that comments on here are being manipulated. Valid arguments get deleted all the time.

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    Mute Cynical
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    Nov 5th 2019, 11:56 PM

    @Paraic: The old adage ‘don’t believe everything you read’ is more important than it ever was.

    These days an article can literally change in-front of your eyes when the author live edits it after publication.

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    Mute Paraic
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    Nov 5th 2019, 11:58 PM

    @Paraic: For anyone who may think that it’s far fetched, you need to see this video: https://youtu.be/omc-5zj70M0

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    Mute Will
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    Nov 6th 2019, 10:07 AM

    @Paraic: If you base you’re vote on anonymous Journal comments and the number of thumbs up they get then you cannot blame disinformation, you must blame yourself! It’s up to you to take on board the entirety of information out there and make up your own mind using intelligence and common sense, it has always been this way.
    Governments and powerful vested interests have lied to us since voting began. Now that the disinformation is not controlled by government suddenly it’s a existential threat to democracy? Pull the other one.

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    Mute Paraic
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    Nov 6th 2019, 11:12 AM

    @Will: You don’t understand how weapons grade phycological profiling and targeting works then. It’s subtle and effective.

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    Mute Will
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    Nov 6th 2019, 11:31 AM

    @Paraic: I know exactly how it works Paraic, I’m afraid you’re missing the point entirely.
    No amount of profiling nor targeting can manipulate an intelligent person who makes it their business to sift through the information that’s out there and make an informed choice. If you vote based entirely on what you read on social media or the political ads they show, then you’re an idiot. Are we supposed to pass laws to protect people from their own stupidity? How long before those same laws are used to deny legitimate opinions (and they will be)
    Don’t forget, we have always been lied to when it comes to our vote. The lies haven’t really changed, just the platforms used to disseminate them. It’s a brave new world but some people want to put the genie back in the bottle, it ain’t happening!

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    Mute Paraic
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    Nov 6th 2019, 3:20 PM

    @Will: Except that’s not true. The very reason psychological warfare works as well as it does, is because we as humans falsely believe that we are different to everyone else and therefore not succeptible to being influenced. If this were really the case, large corporations wouldn’t invest as much as they do in advertisment campaigns. In the case of psychological profiling and targeting, the ads, feeds etc. are customised to your way of thinking and are therefore way more powerful. So if you are gay for example, you may not vote for a candidate that you believe to be homophobic. It doesn’t have to be true, but once the seed is planted, that may be enough. Secondly, not every single voter needs to be influenced to swing an election. It may only need a 1% conversion rate.

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    Mute Paraic
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    Nov 6th 2019, 3:23 PM
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    Mute Jim O Brien - TechBuzz Ireland
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    Nov 6th 2019, 12:09 AM

    Biased media is another one to look at.

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    Mute Leo Lalor
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    Nov 6th 2019, 3:56 AM

    More pointless laws.

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