Electoral Reform Act 2022

Power of Commission to obtain information from online platform and buyer of online political advertisement

138. (1) The Commission may at any time, by notice in writing, require an online platform or a buyer of an online political advertisement to provide it with such written information which the Commission shall specify in the notice as it considers necessary to enable it to carry out its functions under this Part.

(2) An online platform or a buyer of an online political advertisement shall be guilty of an offence if he or she or it—

(a) fails to comply with a requirement made under subsection (1) within the period specified in the notice or within such extended period as the Commission allows, or

(b) in purporting to comply with such a requirement, provides to the Commission information that the online platform or buyer knows to be false or misleading.

(3) In proceedings for an offence under subsection (2)(a), it is a defence if the online platform or buyer of an online political advertisement establishes—

(a) that he or she or it did not know and could not be reasonably expected to know or ascertain the required information, or

(b) that the disclosure of the information was prohibited by a law of the State.

(4) If, after being convicted of an offence under this section, an online platform or a buyer of an online political advertisement continues to fail to comply with the requirement made under subsection (1), the online platform or the buyer commits a further offence on each day or part of a day during which the failure continues.