Electoral Commission tells social media companies to reveal names behind political adverts

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Facebook policy chiefs were grilled by MEPs during a hearing on the Cambridge Analytica scandal Credit: AFP

Social media companies must disclose who is paying for advertising in a register so regulators can spot wrongdoing, the chief executive of the Electoral Commission has said.

Giving evidence during a European Parliament inquiry into the use of Facebook users' data by Cambridge Analytica, Claire Bassett said it was essential that social networks provide names of people paying for advertisements to help the watchdog weed out potential foreign manipulation and increase voter confidence in the UK.

She said: “This information would be a very important part of allowing us to check that spending returns were accurate, and would offer voters transparency.”

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