Appendix 7: Letter sent to Liaison Committee
The Select Committee on Political Polling and Digital Media has, in the course of its inquiry, discovered that there is a growing concern regarding digital and social media. While we are considering some aspects of this as part of our inquiry, we are closely focussed on those issues which are related to political polling and impact on politics.
Beyond this, there are much wider issues bubbling away which relate to digital and social media. The Committee recognises that this is far too large a topic to be covered in the course of its current inquiry and has therefore asked me, in my role as Chair, to write to the Liaison Committee.
The Committee would like to propose the topic to the Liaison Committee as a prime candidate for selection amongst in next year’s topics for ad hoc Committees.
Specifically the Committee feels that the following areas would benefit from further scrutiny:
- legal and regulatory structures in relation to digital and social media
- to what extent can media literacy and user knowledge address the issues
- the rise in the use of ‘bots’ and their potential misuse in the manipulation of social media
- how political advertising can be identified and the sources of funding traced.
- the influence of digital, social media and data analytics companies.
Lord Lipsey
21 November 2017