Political wonks will be familiar, at the bottom of every piece of election literature (including stickers and t-shirts), with an imprint along the lines of
Printed and promoted by Anne Agent on behalf of Can D’Date, both of 29 Acacia Avenue, Dandytown.
I believe that’s a requirement under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 (PPERA). I know various candidates who, during election time, carry a similar imprint on their blog. I have two questions; is there a similar requirement for tweets and, if so, what would it look like
Mark Park of Lib Dem Voice has a partial answer.
PPERA 143 (6) says
The Secretary of State may, after consulting the Commission, by regulations make provision for and in connection with the imposition of requirements as to the inclusion in material falling within subsection (1)(b) of the following details, namely—
(a) the name and address of the promoter of the material; and
(b) the name and address of any person on behalf of whom the material is being published (and who is not the promoter).
A simple solution would be to allow political parties to set up a website (with a short url!). It could then, in a similar way to sites like bit.ly. You could have li.uk/aaa for an imprint from a Labour candidate, who happened to be assigned ‘aaa’. Whaddya think, Mark?
xD.
That’s an excellent idea Dave. Just the sort of idea which official guidance could contain were it the powers to produce it ever used 🙂
.-= Mark Pack´s last blog: BBC journalists are loved by … Conservative MPs =-.
Thanks, Mark! The next question is how do we get the government to realise this needs doing – we want to be able to effectively and honestly use social media at the next general election – and that this is a possible solution.