Join us to celebrate the launch of Jeremy Horder's latest book, 'Criminal Fraud and Election Disinformation: Law and Politics (Oxford University Press, 2022).
Criminal Fraud and Election Disinformation is about the state's approach to fraud and distortion of the truth in politics, especially during election campaigns. Deliberate mischaracterisation of political opponents and their policies has always been a part of politics; however, lying, dishonesty, and distortion of the facts remain morally wrong and have the potential to obstruct important political interests. For example, a false or misleading claim publicised about an election candidate may lead someone to lose an election that they might otherwise have won. So, does-and should-the law seek to provide protection from the risk of this happening, by directly prohibiting the making of false or misleading political claims, or by obliging internet platforms to censor such content? In attempting to answer this question, Jeremy Horder draws a key distinction between what is called 'political viewpoint' fraud and 'electoral participation' fraud. In the interests of protecting freedom of speech, false or misleading claims (disinformation) involving political viewpoint content should be tolerated, not only by the criminal law but also by the internet platforms which host political content. By contrast, in the interests of preserving the integrity of democratic electoral processes, disinformation involving electoral participation information should be prohibited by the criminal law and censored by internet platforms. This book explains how the criminal law in various jurisdictions frequently prohibits false or misleading political claims falling into both categories of disinformation, instead of concentrating on electoral participation fraud. By contract, the right response to political viewpoint disinformation is the provision of more information that challenges people to question their beliefs and prejudices.
Click here to purchase a copy of the book.
Meet our speaker and chair
John Cooper QC John is a QC at 25 Bedford Row, a leader in serious crime including murder, serious violence, drug trafficking, terrorism, fraud, human rights and media. His regulatory work includes fraud and sports regulation and Inquest work includes judicial Review.
John has a significant International practice representing clients all over the world. Most recently, he has been instructed in the well known case of Marrache a long running fraud trial in Gibraltar. He was named by The Times as one of the Top 100 Influential Lawyers of 2012 in the UK. He is also visiting Professor of Law at Cardiff University and a Master of the Bench at Middle Temple.
Jeremy Horder is Professor of Criminal Law at the LSE. He graduated from the Universities of Hull (1984) and Oxford (1986) before taking up a Research Fellowship at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1987-1989. He then became the Porjes Trust Tutorial Fellow in Law at Worcester College, Oxford, from 1989-2010. He was Chairman of Oxford’s Faculty of Law from 1998-2000. From 2005-2010, he was a Law Commissioner for England and Wales, with responsibility for criminal law reform, before becoming Edmund Davies Professor of Criminal Law at King’s College London, from 2010-2013. He is an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple and holds an Honorary LL.D from the University of Hull.
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