Faceless Pro-Brexit campaign targeting MPs via Facebook, says committee

An anonymous campaign to oppose Prime Minister Theresa May's Chequers Brexit deal has been operating on Facebook for 10 months, a parliamentary committee said on Saturday.

The all-party Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said the campaign was microtargeting users and asking them to engage with a pro-Brexit, anti-Chequers website.

The site, called the ‘Mainstream Network’, has no known named organisation, UK address, group or individuals publicly connected with it, the committee discovered as part of its investigation into fake news and misinformation.

The website is largely populated with anonymous pro-Brexit “articles”. There are no bylines on pieces and no contact information is available.

The analysis was completed by media consultancy 89up and submitted to the committee as evidence for its inquiry.

The campaign is estimated to have reached almost 11m people on Facebook, with an estimated spend on the social media site of £257,000 based on this reach, the committee said.

One of the digital adverts discovered encourages users to email their MP asking them to “chuck Chequers”. When clicked on, the advert then generates a pre-populated email lobbying their own MP on the Chequers deal.

The deal agreed by May and her Cabinet in July May’s plan proposes the UK shares a “common rulebook” with the EU, to maintain smooth trade. Critics believe would stop the UK from being able to strike future trade deals.

“Facebook claims to be tackling Fake News but individuals or groups with a political agenda can still use remain entirely anonymous on the platform and reach millions of people,” 89up said.

It also claimed the email was in breach of data protection rules as it automatically includes its own email address in the “blind copy”, “most likely in order to collect the sender’s email address for further marketing purposes”, the committee said.

Two members of the committee, including chairman Damian Collins, are among the MPs whose constituents have been targeted.

“Here we have an example of a clearly sophisticated organisation spending lots of money on a political campaign, and we have absolutely no idea who is behind it. The only people who know who is paying for these adverts is Facebook,” Collins said.

“While debate on one of the central issues facing our country is part of a thriving democracy, there is an important question of where campaigning stops and political advertising starts. Facebook has recently announced a set of changes to increase transparency around political advertising on its platform.”

“This example offers Facebook an opportunity to show it is committed to making that change happen - if you are targeted with a message or asked to do lobby your MP, you should know exactly who is behind the organisation asking you to do it.”