Saturday, April 06, 2019
Information Commissioner intervenes on 'no deal' Brexit adverts
The Guardian reports that the information commissioner’s office will use its legal powers to obtain information from Facebook about a secretive network of pro-Brexit advertising campaigns on the social network. The intervention follows revelations about the involvement of Sir Lynton Crosby’s company in campaigns pushing for a hard no-deal Brexit.
They say that the ICO will look at how any data, potentially including email addresses collected in the process of encouraging people to email their MP, is being handled. The Guardian revealed on Wednesday how a series of apparently grassroots advertising campaigns for a no-deal Brexit are secretly overseen by employees of the Tory election guru’s lobbying company:
The network of supposedly independently pro-Brexit campaign groups with names such as Mainstream Network and Britain’s Future have collectively spent as much as £1m urging voters to contact their local MP and demand a hard no-deal Brexit, creating the impression of a large-scale grassroots rejection of Theresa May’s deal.
In reality they are overseen by a group of individuals including employees of Crosby’s CTF Partners, and a former political adviser to Boris Johnson.
An ICO Spokesperson is quoted as saying: “We are aware of these, and other similar concerns, and have included them as part of our ongoing investigation into the use of personal data for political purposes.”
“We have used our statutory powers to require the social media platforms and campaign groups involved to provide information to our investigators. This will allow us to identify if there has been any misuse of personal data. Our work is ongoing. As we have set out before, the use of personal information for political campaigning purposes must comply with data protection law and, as we have shown, we will take all necessary action to protect UK citizens and uphold the law.”
The paper adds that Facebook is also considering whether the activities of Crosby’s employees meet the definition of “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”, a term that has been used by the social networking company to justify the removal of Russian and Iranian disinformation campaigns from their site.
They say that the ICO will look at how any data, potentially including email addresses collected in the process of encouraging people to email their MP, is being handled. The Guardian revealed on Wednesday how a series of apparently grassroots advertising campaigns for a no-deal Brexit are secretly overseen by employees of the Tory election guru’s lobbying company:
The network of supposedly independently pro-Brexit campaign groups with names such as Mainstream Network and Britain’s Future have collectively spent as much as £1m urging voters to contact their local MP and demand a hard no-deal Brexit, creating the impression of a large-scale grassroots rejection of Theresa May’s deal.
In reality they are overseen by a group of individuals including employees of Crosby’s CTF Partners, and a former political adviser to Boris Johnson.
An ICO Spokesperson is quoted as saying: “We are aware of these, and other similar concerns, and have included them as part of our ongoing investigation into the use of personal data for political purposes.”
“We have used our statutory powers to require the social media platforms and campaign groups involved to provide information to our investigators. This will allow us to identify if there has been any misuse of personal data. Our work is ongoing. As we have set out before, the use of personal information for political campaigning purposes must comply with data protection law and, as we have shown, we will take all necessary action to protect UK citizens and uphold the law.”
The paper adds that Facebook is also considering whether the activities of Crosby’s employees meet the definition of “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”, a term that has been used by the social networking company to justify the removal of Russian and Iranian disinformation campaigns from their site.
