Mitigating Microtargeting: Political Microtargeting Law in Australia and New Zealand

Microtargeting has been a fixture of political campaigning for decades, yet, to the detriment of liberal democracy, governments and industry have struggled to pre-empt and prevent the exploitation of personal data for voter manipulation. Laws pertaining to political microtargeting are often “piecemeal” and tend to derive from a combination of laws on electoral campaigning, data protection, and privacy. This haphazard regulation leaves gaps that microtargeters can leverage. Others note that policymakers have been “slow” to acknowledge the array of challenges that data-driven campaigning poses for democracies. This chapter explores the potential legal obstacles that microtargeters may encounter in two Five Eyes' states: Australia and New Zealand. The chapter aims to add further insight into the regulatory landscape pertinent to countering cyber-enabled disinformation.