The House of Lords has today agreed to appoint a new special
inquiry committee to investigate the impact of digital technologies
on democracy.
The Committee, which will be
Chaired by , will look
at how the growth in digital technology has changed the way
politics functions and what this means for the future of plural,
representative democracy, as political parties, campaigners and
government increasingly focus on online and social media to
communicate with the public.
Commenting,
said:
“Digital technologies are changing
every aspect of our lives, and they are clearly having a
significant impact on democracy and the way in which we carry out
politics in this country.
“We need to understand how best to
respond to this challenge; whether we have the right models in
place to regulate online political communications and the best
means of ensuring the public develop faith in what they see and
hear online. Representative democracy is vulnerable, and will
only be preserved if we understand how precious it is, and treat
it with the care and attention it deserves.
“We will shortly be publishing a
call for evidence in which we’ll set out the kind of evidence
we’ll be seeking. Our
inquiry can only be as good as the
quality of the evidence we receive, so I’d encourage anyone with
an interest in our work to respond with views and suggestions on
this increasingly vital issue.”
The members of the House
of Lords who have been appointed to the Committee
are:
(Chair)
