The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has expressed grave concern over parts of the Electoral Reform Bill 2022.
The Bill seeks to give the government powers to combat ‘disinformation’ surrounding online discourse relating to elections and referendums, although the ICCL have expressed concern about the practical scope of the powers contained in the legislation.
In a letter the ICCL expressed “strong reservations with respect to the passage of the Bill in its current form and the potential impact it may have on the free expression of political opinions.”
They argue that the definition of disinformation is subject to interpretation and that “the power of the Commission to limit the freedom of expression of individuals is based on the Commission’s own interpretation of what is” : misleading, of a nature which “may” cause public harm, or deceitful in nature.
“It is the contention of ICCL that granting the Electoral Commission such wide ranging powers as this creates the potential not only for a chilling effect on the free expression of opinion but also may create scenarios where statements, utterances or other online publications incorrectly classified as “misinformation” are effectively excluded from the electoral discourse.
They say this “is a result of the inadequacy of the appeals process set out in the legislation.”
The appeals process is flagged as being of concern as it allows only a five day window for those accused of disinformation to lodge an online appeal “with all supporting materials” saying this is “unrealistic at best and an attempt to deny effective recourse at worst.”
The ICCL argues that “No timeframe is given for the conclusion of the appeals process which means that the electoral period in question may well be over by such time as the, by then irrelevant information is reinstated.”
The letter also refers to an alleged “abuse of legislative process” where it is claimed that a wide sweeping amendment to the original draft of the Bill was added at the eleventh hour, and that members of the “parliament was not informed” of this and as such were unaware of what they were signing off on.
“While the Bill itself was published in March of 2020, the entirety of section 4(A) was only introduced as an amendment to the Bill by the Minister very late in the legislative process. This has meant that an extremely complex and contentious set of regulations which impinge on some of the most fundamental civil and political rights were passed through the Irish parliament with no debate and without elected officials being aware of what they were voting for”.