Ó An Roinn Tithíochta, Rialtais Áitúil agus Oidhreachta
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The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, has today (10 June 2022) published a number of proposed amendments to the Electoral Reform Bill 2022 which aim to protect the integrity of our electoral and democratic processes against the spread of disinformation and misinformation in the online sphere during electoral periods.
When publishing the Electoral Reform Bill 2022, Minister O’Brien signalled that he had asked the Attorney General to prepare proposals and options for inclusion in the Bill with a specific focus around the protection of the integrity of our electoral processes. These proposals could include the prospect of the Electoral Commission being assigned an appropriate function in this regard.
Detailed legislative proposals have now been prepared and have recently been approved by Government and can be accessed here:
Under the draft proposals, it is intended that the Electoral Commission will have monitoring and investigations functions with regard to the dissemination of disinformation relating to online electoral information and misinformation relating to online electoral process information as well as functions to prevent manipulative or inauthentic behaviours online.
In this context, the Electoral Commission will have explicit powers in respect of its monitoring and investigatory functions, including a power to issue during an electoral period:
Complementary to its enforcement powers, the Electoral Commission may publish codes of conduct in consultation with an Advisory Board and a Stakeholder Council, which may apply to online platforms, candidates, political parties, third parties and/or media outlets. It is envisaged that such codes of conduct would apply during an election campaign period only.
Separately, online platforms will be required to report possible disinformation, misinformation or manipulative / inauthentic behaviour in the online sphere to the Electoral Commission in the lead up to an electoral or referendum period. They will also be required to put in place a notification mechanism for users to report possible disinformation relating to online electoral information and misinformation relating to online electoral process information.
Minister O’Brien signalled:
“These draft proposals will be progressed as the Electoral Reform Bill continues its progress through the Houses of the Oireachtas. With the proposed new functions assigned to the Electoral Commission, I firmly believe that our democracy will be in a much better position to combat the potential threats to the integrity of its elections as a result of these amendments.”