Electoral Reform Act 2022

Take-down notice

153. (1) Where—

(a) during an election campaign period, the Commission is satisfied from the information available, whether obtained through its monitoring, or otherwise, of online electoral information or provided by any other person or otherwise, that any online electoral information constitutes disinformation, or

(b) at any time, the Commission is satisfied from the information available, whether obtained through monitoring, or otherwise, of online electoral information or provided by any other person or otherwise, that any online electoral process information constitutes misinformation,

and the Commission is satisfied that the issuing of such a notice is necessary to protect the fairness or integrity of the election or referendum, the Commission may issue a take-down notice requiring any natural or legal person, including any online platform, to remove, within a specified period, the content to which the take-down notice relates.

(2) A notice under this section shall:

(a) include a statement of reasons for the Commission’s opinion that the conditions in subsection (1) are met;

(b) include the precise online location of the online electoral information referred to in subsection (1)(a) or the online electoral process information referred to in subsection (1)(b) and, where necessary, any additional data enabling the identification of the information;

(c) contain a statement of the Commission, in compliance with subsection (3), in respect of the online electoral information referred to in subsection (1)(a) or the online electoral process information referred to in subsection (1)(b);

(d) inform the person to whom the notice is addressed that he, she or it shall cause the statement in paragraph (c) to be published at the online location referred to in paragraph (b);

(e) inform the person to whom the notice is addressed of the right to appeal the notice under section 161 within 5 days from the date on which the notice was issued.

(3) The statement referred to at subsection (2)(c) shall—

(a) state that it is a statement required to be published pursuant to a take-down notice issued by the Commission, under which the removal of certain content visible at a precise online location has been required by the Commission pursuant to this section,

(b) state that this action has been taken because the content previously published at the location constituted disinformation or misinformation,

(c) contain a summary of the reasons for the Commission’s opinion that it was necessary to require the removal of the information in order to protect the fairness or integrity of the election or referendum, as the case may be, and

(d) state that any natural or legal person directly affected by the notice may appeal the notice under section 161 within 5 days from the date on which the notice was issued.