Political Influence: Artificial Intelligence

Lord Tyler Excerpts

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

We are waiting for the ICO’s report. I think the noble Lord would agree that it is wrong to take action before the independent organisation that is looking into it has reported.

[Lord Tyler (LD)]

My Lords, should we not at least be prepared to do something about this? Does the Minister not recognise that these challenges to which reference has been made are particularly relevant to a referendum campaign, as we have learned to our cost? Given that there is obviously now no potential majority in the House of Commons for any Brexit outcome of any sort, there is an increasing likelihood of the necessity of going back to the people and having a people’s vote. What steps should or can now be taken at least to look at the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Referendums, which goes into some detail on these issues, and the recommendations of the Electoral Commission so that we can have some legislation in place if and when we have another vote?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I agree with the noble Lord that we should be prepared to deal with these issues. That is why we are looking at better research to better understand the problem. We are engaging with the tech sector and the social media platforms to do something about these issues and developing policies on education, tech and regulation. We are also working on strategic communications to deal with this disinformation and setting up, as noble Lords will know, the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to look at some of these very difficult ethical problems surrounding information. We have to remember that disinformation per se is not illegal and we still want a society where we can have freedom of expression as much as possible.

Gambling: Fixed-odds Betting Terminals

Lord Tyler Excerpts

Tuesday 10th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I can assure my noble friend that I will relay to the new Secretary of State the feeling of this House. However, it is unlikely that he is not aware of it, because the same feeling exists in the other place. I can say that I was to have had a meeting to discuss this with the previous Secretary of State, but I am afraid that meeting was cancelled.

[Lord Tyler (LD)]

My Lords, will the Minister explain why—as I understood him to say—Brexit-related orders will take precedence over this very urgent reform?

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

No, my Lords, I did not say that.

Cambridge Analytica

Lord Tyler Excerpts

Monday 19th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I have to give a short answer to what is an extremely difficult question. I certainly agree with the noble Baroness that there are more questions to answer than simply those about data protection in the fairly broad confines of the Data Protection Bill. Of course, the data ethics and innovation body is there to consider some of the wider aspects. Many other areas are evolving, and I cannot say that we have all the answers in this one Bill but we are certainly looking at the issues. Our ambition is to make the internet a safe place to be. We have to take into account all areas of public interest, and I agree that elections are certainly matters of public interest.

[Lord Tyler (LD)]

My Lords, can I take the Minister a step further on the question raised by the noble Baroness and my noble friend? He has referred extensively to the Information Commissioner, but in one very important respect this is a matter of concern to the Electoral Commission. We have a vehicle for improving the powers of the Information Commissioner but we do not at the moment have any vehicle to improve the powers and investigative processes of the Electoral Commission. Will the Minister confirm whether the Electoral Commission is looking at the issue of whether Cambridge Analytica employed at any stage, or gave advice at any stage to, any of the participants in the leave campaign during the referendum? If so, has he received any advice from the Electoral Commission as to whether the law needs to be tightened up in that respect, too?

As we understand it, one of the companies concerned may well be not a UK-owned company—in which case it would of course be an ineligible contributor to any campaign such as a referendum. Given that it is possible that, within a matter of months, we may have another referendum, I suggest to the noble Lord and to the Government that this is a matter of some urgency, and therefore cannot be left simply to improving the powers of the Information Commissioner.

[Lord Ashton of Hyde]

I am not sure that I agree with the premise of the latter part of the noble Lord’s question. Nevertheless, he makes a sensible point about the Electoral Commission, which is, I believe, a Cabinet Office responsibility. I cannot confirm whether the Electoral Commission is currently conducting the investigation that the noble Lord asked about, but I will certainly find out. What I can say is that, as far as data is concerned, which is my responsibility, we continue to have cross-party talks on areas of interest, including with the noble Lord’s own party. I recently participated in a round table with the Secretary of State and representatives from the Labour Party and the Lib Dems to talk about how we can go forward as far as political parties and elections are concerned. The Electoral Commission was raised at that stage—but I will have to come back to the noble Lord on the specifics of his question on the Electoral Commission.