Informed citizens: Addressing bad information in a healthy democracy
Report (PDF) Summary of recommendations (PDF)
Why we are making these recommendations and an introduction to the issues.
Ministers and government departments must provide evidence for what they say.
Ministers and government departments have a responsibility to be open and honest in their use of information, and must be held to account when they fail to do so.
MPs must agree new Parliamentary rules that make it easy to correct mistakes—and sanction those who don’t.
Politicians making false and misleading claims in public must make corrections and the media that air these claims should do more to address them.
Introduce better and more formalised scrutiny of election manifestos with political parties meeting higher standards in the presentation of their policy commitments.
Political parties should accept the need for accountability and move to independent oversight of their advertising practices.
Parties must stop using misleading formats to gain votes, and new rules should be put in place.
Government, Parliament and other authorities must act in recognition that the UK does not have adequate protections for our elections.
Turnaround the Bill’s failure to properly address harmful online misinformation and disinformation.
Government must prioritise addressing harmful health misinformation in online safety regulation and with a multifaceted set of responses and actors.
Help protect people from harmful bad information online by ensuring they have the skills and understanding to spot and deal with it.
A proactive approach is needed to make the most out of the forthcoming regulatory framework while ensuring that it is improved to better address bad information in timely and effective ways.
