Recommendation 22

The responsibilities of multiple regulators in the digital space interlock with the Electoral Commission’s role to regulate money spent on political campaigning. The Government’s draft Strategy and Policy Statement for the Electoral Commission encourages cooperation between regulators to avoid duplication but does not provide any detail on how this can be achieved. We recommend the Government puts forward proposals and if necessary legislates through the Online Safety Bill to enable digital regulators, such as the Information Commissioner’s Office, Ofcom, the Electoral Commission and Advertising Standards Authority, to formally share appropriate levels of information to support their regulatory duties and create a coherent regulatory system. We recommend that Ofcom, as the prospective online safety regulator, should be given a power to set minimum standards for advert libraries and advert labelling to provide maximum transparency and consistency across these databases.