The International Grand Committee on Disinformation also proposed a moratorium on “misleading micro-targeted political ads” online.
Background: During 2018, several parliaments around the world explored the impact of online disinformation in their countries. One example was the inquiry on ‘Fake News’ carried out by the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Committee of the UK House of Commons. The International Grand Committee on Disinformation and ‘Fake News’ was born out of the effort to join forces internationally and work toward a common approach. It currently includes parliamentarians from Australia, Finland, Estonia, Georgia, Ireland, Singapore, UK, and US.
A set of principles for global regulation: The Committee met in Dublin, Ireland for two days (6–7 November 2019) to assess the current status of evidence of online harm; the perspective of industry; the state of play in regulation; and how international collaboration can foster a common approach. At the end of the two days, Committee members (except the representative from Georgia) signed a joint declaration enshrining nine principles to advance international collaboration in the regulation of harmful content, hate speech, and electoral interference online. The Committee calls for full transparency regarding the source, targeting methodology and levels of funding for all online political advertising, and believes self-regulation is insufficient. National initiatives require more coordination: as a result, the Committee recognises the need for a dedicated international space to provide such coordination, and commits to work with governments and other organisations to establish such governance structures.
A moratorium on political advertising: Alongside the principles agreed in the joint declaration, the Committee agreed that individual States should put in place a moratorium on micro-targeted political advertising that contains false or misleading information until such time as regulation is in place. This because the issue of misleading political ads was a common theme during the hearings. However, it is unclear how the Committee’s call for a moratorium will work in practice. The Committee stated its intention to continue its work.
