Calls for reform after Tory campaign lies #GE19

There have been calls for reform to political advertising after reports found upto 90 per cent of ads paid for by Boris Johnson's Tory party contained misleading claims.

First Draft, a non-profit organisation debunking misinformation – looked at ads promoted by UK political parties on Facebook in the first four days of December.

It said 88 per cent of claims made by Conservative ads were disputed by the independent fact-checking agency Full Fact.

First Draft said it could find no misleading Facebook ads from Labour in the same time frame.

Boris Johnson has been repeatedly accused of misleading voters, with the Tory party's official press account even attempting to brand itself as an independent fact checker.

Another campaign group, the Coalition for Reform in Political Advertising, say ads should be legally required to be fact-checked.

Catherine Stihler, chief executive of the Open Knowledge Foundation supported the call for reform: “This report shows that widespread disinformation has blighted this election campaign, and all main parties have been found guilty.

“Twitter’s recent decision to ban political adverts was a welcome step, but it was disappointing that Facebook failed to introduce a temporary ban on political ads.

“However, ultimately the long-term solution to this does not involve self-regulation. The only way to build a fair, free and open digital future in the UK and across the world is to update analogue electoral laws for the digital age.

“This must be urgently addressed by the next UK Government.

“But a crackdown on paid-for adverts alone can’t stop the spread of false information – it requires parties and politicians to stop playing fast and loose with the truth. The way forward for our politics is to resuscitate the three foundations of tolerance, facts and ideas.”

Image: The foreign office

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Elspeth Parris commented 2019-12-11 20:37:08 +0000
Open Knowledge Foundation contradicting Full Fact, and thereby adding more misleading, or even untruthful, information to the mix: they say ‘all main parties have been found guilty’ when this is not true. Either they don’t count Labour as a ‘main party’ which is a bit much when Labour has been the official opposition for many years, whenever its not actually been in power, or they’re discounting the finding that 0% of adverts have been either untrue or misleading. Full Fact’s only fault-finding with Labour came from supporters sharing stuff, which the Labour Party has little control over.
@redrobinscot tweeted this page. 2019-12-11 20:11:12 +0000
Calls for reform after Tory campaign ads found to be based on lies #GE19 https://www.theredrobin.scot/calls_for_reform_after_tory_campaign_lies_ge19?recruiter_id=2
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