The new House of Lords Committee on Democracy and Digital
Technologies will next week open its inquiry by taking evidence
from Baroness O’Neil, a leading expert on ethics and the role of
trust and accountability in politics and the media.
The Committee is considering the impact of digital technology on
representative democracy, political campaigning and how politics
works. It is an area that is becoming increasingly significant as
political parties focus their campaigning resources and
advertising onto online platforms and concerns have emerged about
accountability and the possibility of hostile foreign states
seeking to influence elections in the UK and elsewhere.
The Committee will publish a Call for Evidence before the summer
recess in which it will set out the scope of its inquiry. Next
week’s session with Baroness O’Neill will give the committee an
opportunity to explore some the ethical issues raised by the
increasing influence of digital technology on democracy.
The evidence session will start at 10:35am on Tuesday 16 July in
Committee Room 2 of the House of Lords.
Areas the Committee will cover with Baroness O’Neill include:
- The extent to which challenges to democracy are caused by
digital technologies and how far those technologies simply
provide a platform for existing problems to be aired.
- Should online platforms for responsible for moderating what
is posted on their sites? Should the Government legislate to
require that or does that risk the right to freedom of
expression?
- Is the right to anonymity online a good thing?
- Who should be responsible for identifying and challenging
misinformation posted online?
