Political advertisers urged to adopt new standards in trust and transparency
Political advertisers are being encouraged to sign up to a responsible campaigning pledge that sets out new standards in trust and transparency.
Political advertisers urged to adopt new standards in trust and transparency
The Coalition for Reform in Political Advertising is spearheading the initiative by advertising its manifesto for the adoption of modernised rules better suited to digitally mature democracies.
Designed to circumvent the often slow pace of legislative change the voluntary code of conduct offers a way for politicians to rise above the fray by promising to operate to a higher standard.
The four-part pledge includes a commitment to include identifying information in all digital advertising; publish all paid-for digital advertising on a publicly available website; share substantiation for any objective factual claims made; and ‘revise or suspend’ any ads which are subsequently found to be misleading by a nominated independent fact-checking service.
Alex Tait, co-founder of the Coalition for Reform in Political Advertising, said: “As our campaign has progressed, it has become increasingly obvious that mature democracies across the globe are facing precisely the same problem – outdated rules for political advertising and disinformation in the digital age.
“Political ad reform is now being discussed in several countries. However, we wanted to share the key principles we’ve developed to act as a catalyst for change in other countries.”
The pledge has already been employed in the recent European elections by The Independent Group for Change and is supported by The Guardian, The Sun and The Times.
In the UK, Facebook has begun requiring political advertisers to confirm their identity and location as well as the identity of who has bankrolled the ads.