Day: October 16, 2018

    British political parties will have to verify their identity and location if they want to take out adverts on Facebook, under new rules set out by the company on Tuesday designed to bolster transparency in political advertising ahead of elections. Facebook will also include new features on its website to show who has paid for adverts and begin an archive of all political ads that are purchased on the site in an effort to clamp down on election fraud. Facebook was at the heart of claims surrounding fake political advertising and misinformation during the 2016 US elections when Russia-linked groups used adverts and articles  spread via Facebook to sow discord. Facebook adverts were also used during the Brexit referendum and linked to claims of overspending by the Vot...

    Ireland has accused Theresa May of backsliding on Britain’s firm commitment to sign up to a backstop promise for the Irish border that would guarantee the open border remains after Brexit in the event of no deal. In an unusually outspoken speech, Adrian O’Neill, the Irish ambassador to the UK, told an audience of British civil servants and EU embassy officials he was alarmed that some Brexiter MPs think the backstop was not even necessary. That there was still no deal on the Irish border, nine months after the prime minister had signed up to the backstop option, was both disappointing and concerning, O’Neill said. He said that it was unlikely there could be a deal in the next 48 hours, and the most benign outcome of the European council was that the prime minister ...