Maltese want ‘day of reflection’ before election to be respected on social media

An absolute majority of Maltese (79%) agree that the ‘day of reflection’ before elections should also be respected on the social media.

Only 11% of Maltese are opposed to restrictions on political posts during the day of reflection, a Eurobarometer survey has found.

The ban on political activity on the eve of elections has been challenged over the past years leading the police to question candidates who breached the law and posted online messages.

The situation was immortalized in the words “tistgħu tgħiduli x’qed jiġri hawn?” (Can you tell me what is happening here), mouthed by then TV presenter Lou Bondi on the eve of the 2013 election.

Bondi had said the words upon entering Daphne Caruana Galizia’s house at night where police officers had gone to question the journalist over political posts she had put up on her blog.

But amidst growing concern on the power of social media to manipulate public opinion, the European-wide survey shows strong support for restrictions applicable to mainstream media to be also imposed on online political content.

The Eurobarometer survey showed that the Maltese were among the keenest on wanting online respect for the silence period in Europe.

In fact, 74% of respondents in all 28 EU countries agreed with the ban on political propaganda and coverage being respected on the social media.  While the Swedes (58%) were the least likely to agree with imposing the ban on social media, agreement with the ban rose to 87% among Croatians.

But the survey also suggested that the Maltese were among the least to have a strong view on the issue.

While only 30% of Maltese said they were strongly in favour of the ban, 49% replied that they “are somewhat in favour”.
In contrast, only 34% of respondents in all 28 member states replied that they “are somewhat in favour” of the ban while 40% strongly favoured the ban.

The survey also showed that 74% of Maltese were increasingly concerned about the way personal data people leave on the internet was being used for targeted political messages.

 The level of concern in Malta was even higher than that expressed by respondents in all 28 EU countries (67%).

In line with the majority of other EU citizens, 83% of Maltese also agreed with greater transparency on which content consisted of online advertising and who was paying for it.

And the demand for greater transparency was also high with 81% wanting more clarity on the amount of money social media networks received from political parties and campaign groups.

80% of Maltese also said that rules on party or campaign funding should apply to adverts on the social media 

There is growing concern over online misinformation ahead of next year's European Parliament election

The survey was commissioned by the European Commission and was carried out in September.

The results come in the wake of concern about Russian interference in support of far right and anti establishment movements in elections in the US and EU countries.

In April Julian King, European Commissioner for security had expressed fears that next year’s MEP elections could be vulnerable to mass Eurosceptic online misinformation.

Concern increased after a whistleblower alleged that Cambridge Analytica gathered personal information from up to 50 million Facebook users and used it to target voters in the US presidential elections.

The Commission is currently drafting an “action plan to tackle the spread and impact of online disinformation in Europe and ensure the protection of European values and democratic systems”.