I welcome the fact that the European Parliament voted in favour of the resolution on foreign electoral interference and disinformation in national and European democratic processes. This resolution is an important addition to other measures drawing attention to the increases in interference and disinformation in democratic processes, which we must do all in our power to halt. The United Kingdom is no exception.
The inclusion of a strong emphasis on the role of electoral influence in increased and targeted attacks on migrant, LGBT+ and religious groups and individuals within the resolution is welcome. Also welcome is the explicit reference to allegations against Front National, FPO and Lega per Salvini, which pre-empt the Leave.eu campaign.
The resolution also recalled the European Parliament resolution on Cambridge Analytica of 25 October 2018. It urged Facebook, following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, to implement various measures to prevent the use of the social media platform for electoral interference. Nevertheless, Facebook has not followed up on most of these requests. The resolution is a timely reminder of Facebook’s role in the referendum campaign, a scandal documented in ‘The Great Hack’, which the European Parliament hosted a screening of last week.
