Why am I receiving campaign material?
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Good campaigns that communicate with voters are central to well-run elections and referendums. When campaigners clearly explain their policies and political views, it helps you to exercise your right to vote in a meaningful and informed way.
Candidates, political parties and campaigners sometimes use data about voters to support their campaigning activities. This data allows them to:
- see who is eligible to vote in their area
- understand what issues could be important to voters
- send printed and online campaign material to voters
- ensure voters receive information about issues that are relevant to them.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the UK’s independent regulator for data protection. It has information on data and elections which outlines how your data may be lawfully used during an election period.
Electoral register
Candidates, registered political parties and registered campaigners can request copies of the full electoral register. The register includes the names and addresses of everyone who is registered to vote, except those who have registered to vote anonymously.
These individuals and organisations can use this data to send you printed campaign material, unless you tell them that you object to receiving their direct marketing. They can only use the electoral register for campaigning activities.
Candidates, parties and campaigners must also ensure that their copy of the electoral register is kept securely.
The open register is an extract of the full electoral register. This version is available to anyone who wants to buy it, such as businesses or charities.
You can choose to have your details removed from the open register by contacting the electoral services team at your local council. If you choose to do this, your details will not be available to someone buying the open register, but you will still be registered to vote.
You can find out more about how candidates, parties or campaigners may contact you using information from the electoral register on the ICO’s website.
Online political adverts and microtargeting
Political campaigners can combine data from the electoral register with other personal information such as online shopping habits. Some social media platforms and websites provide electronic tools such as cookies and social plugins, which track users’ online behaviour to build up personal profiles. Campaigners use this profile to tailor ads to your interests, and to try and influence your vote. This is sometimes called ‘microtargeting’.
If you engage with a political party or issue on social media, you may see personalised ads related to them. The ICO provides information about online campaigning practices.
Some social media and digital platforms tell you why you’re seeing a specific paid-for advert. You can do this by clicking a link on the advert, which will say something like ‘Why am I seeing this ad?’ or ‘Why this ad?’.
Some social media and digital platforms also have ad libraries. These show you information about all the adverts campaigners are running, as well as information about who campaigners are targeting with the adverts. Although each platform takes a different approach, commonly used targeting categories include gender, age and location. Find out more about social media and digital companies’ policies.
What can I do?
Data protection law
Data protection law in the UK gives everyone certain rights regarding how organisations use their personal data. All organisations, including political parties, should be transparent about why they are collecting data about you. They should only use your personal data in a fair, open and transparent way.
If you ask, an organisation must tell you whether it is using your personal data. Find out more about your right to be informed.
You can also object to receiving marketing from any organisation and to the processing of your information for direct marketing purposes. However, a candidate or political party does have a right to send a Freepost mailing. Find out more about your right to object.
Social media
The ICO has information about how to protect your personal data online, including on social media sites. This will help make sure the data you share on these sites is used in the way you expect.
Making a complaint
If you have a complaint about how an organisation has handled your information, you should firstly raise your complaint with them. If the organisation has been unable, or unwilling, to resolve your complaint, you can raise the matter with the ICO.
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