Likud says it won’t commit to transparency rules for online campaign ads

The legal adviser of the ruling Likud party, Avi Halevy, says the party is rejecting a call from other major political factions to impose greater transparency over campaign advertising ahead of the April 9 elections.

The Central Elections Committee has sought to apply the legal standards for traditional election-time advertising in print, radio or television to new media, especially online advertising. The committee’s members, who represent the major parties running in the current elections, have focused on applying the requirement that political parties and organizations must identify themselves in their advertising to online ads, which the current law does not require, as it was written before online advertising became a major vehicle for electioneering.

Likud is the only party currently in the Knesset to refuse to commit to that transparency standard.

In a letter made public by the Globes financial daily, Halevy explains Likud’s two key reasons: that imposing the new rules on online advertising must be done through legislation, not the expansion of the powers of the elections committee; and that dozens of small parties that have never won seats in the Knesset were not being asked to make the same commitments.

The Central Elections Committee’s chairman, Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, noted last week that fears that foreign powers might attempt to manipulate Israel’s elections raised the urgency and importance of ensuring as much transparency and clear provenance for electioneering materials.