We all have our own reasons for who we vote for or, indeed, whether we vote at all. A central part of this decision making, though, is the information we are presented with by the candidates vying for our votes.
Whether it is voting for your local MP, mayor or councillor, elections are information-rich environments. They attract intense public attention, and the sheer volume of online content and commentary can make it harder than ever to separate verified facts from noise.
This can make elections fertile ground for misinformation to thrive, a trend that is only becoming more pronounced as generative AI continues on its rampant development trajectory.
Misinformation in Local Elections
The widespread misinformation on social media platforms is as prevalent in local elections as it is in national elections and is proving increasingly damaging.
False claims about candidates, misleading narratives about planning decisions, or fabricated official announcements can spread rapidly through local Facebook groups, WhatsApp chats and community forums. You only have to look at what is happening around the upcoming by-election in Makerfield – which will have huge ramifications for our country one way or another – to see this in action.
Amplified by algorithms that reward engagement over accuracy, they risk causing real-world damage if they are not challenged. Misinformation at a local level can suppress turnout, distort debate and undermine trust in the decisions that affect people's daily lives.
Government Action and Its Limits
We have seen the government this week introduce a ban on social media for under-16s, but this will not help here. Neither is it a case of relying on the platforms to root out this damaging content themselves – that is not in their interest as their algorithms thrive on such material.
The Role of Local Journalism
Fortunately, the ultimate defence mechanism already exists in the form of professional local journalism.
Across the UK, local newsrooms such as the Manchester Evening News are doing painstaking work verifying claims, correcting falsehoods and providing reliable reporting rooted in their communities.
They know the local context, the people, the history – and they are often best placed to see when something simply is not right. Again, in Makerfield, it is the local news titles that are at the forefront of the fight against misinformation online in what could be one of the most consequential by-elections in recent history.
As violence and unrest unfolded in Belfast, local journalists worked around the clock to report verified facts, challenge misinformation and keep communities informed in real time. This is dangerous work that requires real courage.
Government-backed research into the 2024 Southport unrest found that while social media amplified falsehoods, trusted local journalism helped de-escalate tensions by reporting verified facts and amplifying authoritative local voices.
Trust in Local News
Trust in UK local news brands remains high with the public – 80 per cent of UK adults say they trust what they read in their local media and the same goes for reach – 42 million people engage with local journalism every month across print and digital.
So, when discussions around the information ecosystem do not acknowledge the role local journalism plays in the lives of a huge number of the population every day, they do the local news sector a disservice.
Challenges and the Path Forward
The challenge local news faces is not a lack of demand for trusted news, nor a failure of journalism itself. It is a digital marketplace that does not adequately reward the production of accurate, original reporting at precisely the moment it is most needed.
This must change, so that organisations producing journalism can sustain it in a digital market where advertising revenues have increasingly flowed to global tech giants rather than to the publishers themselves.
There is no time to waste. Misinformation is becoming harder to detect with AI deepfakes increasingly becoming indistinguishable from reality. Important democratic events such as the Makerfield by-election that should illustrate the strength of our democracy risk being weakened, impacting local communities.
Professional journalism is our last line of defence against the advance of the rising tide of misinformation on social networks. If government continues to treat journalism as a luxury, rather than the piece of democratic infrastructure that it is, these defences will only hold for so long.
