Referendum Campaigns in the Digital Age: Towards (More) Comparative Analyses in Hybrid Media Systems

Udris, Linards; Eisenegger, Mark

doi:10.17645/mac.v11i1.6703

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 32 publications

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“…Data-driven campaigning has been the focus of public and academic attention already since the 2008 Obama campaign and even earlier (Stromer-Galley, 2019). Most existing research so far, however, has focused on election campaigns (Anstead, 2017;Bennett & Lyon, 2019;Chadwick & Stromer-Galley, 2016;Howard, 2005;Kefford et al, 2022;Montigny et al, 2019;Stromer-Galley, 2019), while referendum campaigns have been generally overlooked (see Udris & Eisenegger, 2023). Probably the one big exception from this common trend has been the highly prominent 2016 Brexit referendum campaign on whether the UK should leave the European Union.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Brexit? Public Participation in Decision-Making on Campaign Data During and After Referendum Campaigns

Rone

2023

MaC

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While the Brexit referendum campaign has been extensively researched, media, regulatory bodies, and academics have often talked at cross-purposes. A strong focus on Cambridge Analytica’s role in the 2016 referendum, despite official investigations concluding the company had only limited involvement in the campaign, has distracted attention from more mundane but highly controversial data practices, including selling voters’ data to third parties or re-using campaign data without consent from data subjects. This empirical case study of data-driven referendum campaigning around Brexit raises two broader theoretical questions: First, moving beyond the current focus on transparency and accountability, can public participation in the ownership and management of campaign data address some of the problematic data practices outlined? Second, most academic literature on data-driven campaigning, in general, and referendum campaigns, in particular, has often overlooked the key question of what happens with campaigning data once campaigns are over. What legal safeguards or mechanisms of accountability and participation are there to guarantee consent when it comes to further re-use of people’s data gathered during campaigns? Ultimately, the article raises the question of who should have a say in how “people’s data” is used in referendum campaigns and afterwards and makes a case for democratising such decisions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond Brexit? Public Participation in Decision-Making on Campaign Data During and After Referendum Campaigns

Rone

2023

MaC

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Alert, but not alarmed: Electoral disinformation and trust during the 2023 Australian voice to parliament referendum

Carson,

Grömping,

Gravelle

et al. 2024

Policy & Internet

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In 2024 experts highlight misinformation and disinformation “amid elections” as the top short‐term global risk. In addressing this pressing concern, electoral authorities are devising strategies to counter electoral disinformation while governments consider changes to public policy and legislation. Drawing on motivated reasoning theory, this study assesses the impact of disinformation and mitigation measures in Australia during the 2023 referendum campaign – to establish a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous Voice to Parliament – and its subsequent impacts on trust in the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Through a nationally representative survey experiment (N = 3825) we find overall high public trust in the AEC with disinformation having a small, but detectable effect. This study finds a level of “moral panic” regarding disinformation's threat to electoral integrity, at least in the Australian setting. However, concerningly, we also find existing AEC communication and refutation strategies have limited impact on countering distrust arising after a disinformation attack, suggesting a need for other strategies. Nonetheless, the study underscores the resilience of Australian electoral processes against disinformation threats serving as a caution against excessive legislative reaction to this global problem. Our study contributes to understanding the complex interplay between information, trust, and public policy responses to disinformation challenges.

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Issue agenda-setting in the voice to parliament referendum: using big data to explain voice discourse on traditional and social media

Phillips,

Carson,

Jackman

2024

Australian Journal of Political Science

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Referendum Campaigns in the Digital Age: Towards (More) Comparative Analyses in Hybrid Media Systems

Cited by 3 publications

References 32 publications

Beyond Brexit? Public Participation in Decision-Making on Campaign Data During and After Referendum Campaigns

Beyond Brexit? Public Participation in Decision-Making on Campaign Data During and After Referendum Campaigns

Alert, but not alarmed: Electoral disinformation and trust during the 2023 Australian voice to parliament referendum

Issue agenda-setting in the voice to parliament referendum: using big data to explain voice discourse on traditional and social media

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