'Dirty methods' in Brexit vote cited in push for new laws on Europe's elections

Sites such as Facebook will have to publicly disclose identity of people and entities funding such advertising

Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Thu 3 Dec 2020 16.39 GMT

The “dirty methods” of the Brexit referendum have been cited as a reason for new EU laws aimed at tackling disinformation and forcing online platforms including Facebook to publicly disclose the identity of people and entities funding political adverts.

Věra Jourová, a vice president of the European commission, said the EU rule-book needed to be updated to deal with on-line political campaigning, as she unveiled draft legislation at a press conference in Brussels.

The proposals would force on-line platforms to take greater responsibility for what they publish and ensure that consumers know why they are being targeted and by whom. The commission will also look at further restricting “micro-targeting and psychological profiling in the political context” through new regulatory codes and professional standards.

“We are convinced that people must know why they are seeing an ad, who paid for it, how much, what microtargeting criteria were used,” Jourová said. “I don’t want elections to be a competition of dirty methods. New technologies should be tools for emancipation, not for manipulation.”

She cited the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which she said was “an eye-opening moment for all of us”, and the EU referendum as motivating factors for the proposed legislation.

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