Lucy Powell says social media giants must face strict election rules to protect votes

Social media platforms should face election rules like broadcasters to help "protect democracy", Lucy Powell has claimed.

The Labour Deputy Leader wants to see new election-specific obligations on the largest online platforms, to combat misinformation and foreign interference in the democratic process.

Ms Powell will now move to strengthen the Representation of the People Bill with legal duties on major social media platforms like X and Meta during elections periods.

The close Andy Burnham ally believes platforms should be treated like broadcasters, and wants the Electoral Commission to work with Ofcom and social media companies to bring in a digital code of practice and framework for election periods.

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She said: "Today, millions of people get their news from social media, yet our laws haven't kept pace. The biggest influence on what many voters see during election campaigns is not a TV news bulletin—it's social media feeds decided by opaque algorithms, where falsehoods, deepfakes and coordinated mis and disinformation can spread at alarming speed with real world consequences.

"Freedom of expression is fundamental to our democracy. These proposals are not about policing political opinions or censoring legitimate political debate. They are about asking how we can make sure the public can make informed choices based on accurate information.”

While broadcasters are subject to rules designed to protect fairness and public confidence during elections, social media platforms are not subject to similar election-period requirements.

Ms Powell added: "Hostile actors, bad-faith campaigners, and bot farms can be used to distort democratic debate, spewing hate online threatening democracy and targeting election candidates. We must make sure we have the right framework in place to strengthen the integrity of elections.

"Protecting free and fair elections is above party politics. We all have a stake in ensuring that elections are decided by informed voters—not by bots, manipulated algorithms or foreign interference."

This week Lisa Nandy announced she and her department are quitting Elon Musk's X - lashing out at it for allowing "abuse and misinformation" to spread.

The Culture Secretary said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport warned the much-maligned platform, formerly known as Twitter, is not healthy for Britain's democracy.

Hers is the largest government department to quit the platform so far, although several individual ministers and MPs have announced their own boycotts.