Lies, Manipulation and Elections--Controlling False Campaign Statements

Complaints about lies are nothing new to elections. Legislation attempts to prohibit certain types of false statement during campaigns. This article examines the rationales for specific controls on false campaign speech and argues that the primary harms are the manipulation of voters and the distortion of the electoral process. The article also considers the consistency of such laws with rights to freedom of expression. While knowingly false statements attract little protection under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, there are still free speech concerns about regulating election speech. In particular, there are dangers of chilling speech and the perception of politically motivated adjudications. The article will consider the regulatory alternatives to the current law. None of the options are attractive, especially given the difficult tension between the desire to curtail falsities and the shortcomings of the law in pursuing that desire—a tension that is strongly felt in the context of an election.