Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing measures which extend the imprint rules to digital communications in order for digital campaign material to have an imprint saying who is behind the campaign and who created it.

Voters value transparency and that is why the Elections Bill introduces a digital imprints regime so that when voters engage with politics online they are clear who is promoting the campaign material and on whose behalf.

Reflecting positive feedback to the technical consultation Transparency in digital campaigning launched by the Cabinet Office last year, the digital imprints regime proposed as part of the Elections Bill will go much further than the current imprint rules for printed material, further increasing transparency and empowering voters to make informed decisions about the digital campaign material they are viewing online.

A digital imprint must include the name and address of the promoter of the material and the name and address of any person or organisation on behalf of whom the material is being promoted. Breaching the digital imprint rules will be an offence and the Electoral Commission and police will have shared responsibility for the enforcement of the regime.