4.—(1) For the purposes of section 78A(1)(b) of the Act, a political party or a candidate or his election agent may publish on the Internet during the election period the election advertising specified in paragraph (2) (in text, still or moving picture, sign, symbol or other visual image, or any speech, music, sound or audible message, or any combination of 2 or more of those things) in the following manner only:| (a) | by including the election advertising, or something that contains it, on one or more websites, whether or not it is or they are maintained by or on behalf of the political party, candidate or group of candidates; | | (b) | by providing an electronic cross-reference (commonly known as a hypertext link) on a webpage of any website (whether or not maintained by or on behalf of the political party, candidate or group of candidates) that refers or links to, or otherwise brings the user to, another webpage or online content —| (i) | that does not contain any election advertising; or | | (ii) | that contains election advertising the publication of which complies with these Regulations or which is not proscribed by the Returning Officer; |
| | (c) | by communicating the election advertising through a chat room or discussion forum, whether or not maintained by or on behalf of the political party, candidate or group of candidates, and if the chat room or discussion forum is one that is maintained by or on behalf of a political party, candidate or group of candidates, the maintenance of which complies with the requirements of regulation 5; | | (d) | by making the election advertising available on an online video sharing or hosting website or an online photograph sharing or hosting website; | | (e) | by sending the election advertising by electronic mail that complies with the requirements of paragraph (3); | | (f) | by sending the election advertising in a micro-blog post or an SMS message or MMS message that complies with the requirements of paragraph (3); | | (g) | by a program of speech, music or other sound made available over the Internet as a digital audio file; | | (h) | by a program of images (whether or not accompanied by any sound) made available over the Internet as a digital video file; | | (i) | by making election advertising available through an electronic media application; or | | (j) | by making election advertising available by or through a web log or social networking service, whether or not maintained by or on behalf of the political party, candidate or group of candidates. |
(2) For the purposes of section 78A(1)(b) of the Act, a political party or a candidate or his election agent may publish on the Internet during the election period the following election advertising (in text, still or moving picture, sign, symbol or other visual image, or any speech, music, sound or audible message, or any combination of 2 or more of those things), and no others:| (a) | any photograph of any candidate or group of candidates or any drawing or illustration which purports to depict any such candidate or group of candidates or to be a likeness or representation of any candidate or group of candidates; | | (b) | any photograph or film of any person or persons lawfully taking part in or conducting any election rally or other election activity, or any drawing or illustration which purports to depict any such person or persons or to be a likeness or representation of any person or persons; | | (c) | the manifesto or declaration of policies or ideology of the political party or the candidate or group of candidates; | | (d) | any historical or biographical information about the political party or the candidate or group of candidates; | | (e) | any newsletter, journal or other periodical publication of the political party; | | (f) | any message, article or comment that promotes or opposes any political party or the election of any candidate or group of candidates, including one that takes a position on an issue with which a political party or candidate or group of candidates, as the case may be, is associated; | | (g) | the whole or part of the logo, symbol or mark of a political party, or the whole or part of the approved symbol allotted to a candidate or a group of candidates under section 34(1)(b) or 34A(1)(b) of the Act; | | (h) | any advertisement or material for the recruitment of members or subscribers of a political party or for acquiring the services of volunteers or canvassers for a candidate or group of candidates; | | (i) | any announcement of any election meeting or other meeting, or of any constituency visit, held or to be held by or on behalf of a candidate or group of candidates or the political party. |
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(3) Any election advertising that —| (a) | is sent by electronic mail shall contain a clearly and conspicuously displayed functioning electronic mail address to which the recipient of the electronic mail message may send a reply to the sender of the message to indicate a desire not to receive further such messages from that sender at the electronic mail address at which the message was received; or | | (b) | is in a micro-blog post or an SMS message or MMS message shall contain a clearly and conspicuously displayed —| (i) | functioning digital mobile phone number; or | | (ii) | functioning electronic mail address, |
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| to which the recipient of the micro-blog post, SMS message or MMS message, as the case may be, may send a reply to the sender of the election advertising to indicate a desire not to receive further election advertising from that sender at the mobile phone number or electronic mail address at which the micro-blog post, SMS message, MMS message, as the case may be, was received. |
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(3A) If a recipient of any electronic mail message, micro-blog post, SMS message or MMS message containing election advertising referred to in paragraph (1)(e) or (f) makes a request to the sender of such message or post —| (a) | in the case of an electronic mail message — through an electronic mail message sent to a functioning electronic mail address provided under paragraph (3)(a); or | | (b) | in the case of a micro-blog post or an SMS message or MMS message — through a functioning digital mobile phone number or a functioning electronic mail address provided under paragraph (3)(b), |
| not to receive further electronic mail messages, micro-blog posts, SMS messages or MMS messages, as the case may be, containing election advertising from the sender, the sender shall not send or further send or cause to be sent or further sent any such electronic mail message, micro-blog post, SMS message or MMS message containing election advertising during the election period to the recipient’s electronic mail address or digital mobile phone number without the prior express consent of the recipient. |
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(4) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this regulation shall permit any of the following to be published by any political party, or any candidate or group of candidates or their election agents, on what is commonly known as the Internet during the election period:| (a) | any election survey within the meaning of section 78C of the Act; | | (b) | any appeal to members of the public or any class thereof to give money or other property (whether for consideration or otherwise) which is made in association with a representation that the whole or any part of its proceeds is to be applied for the objects or activities of any political party or for the promotion of any candidate or (as the case may be) group of candidates at an election; | | (c) | any facility enabling any member of the public or any class thereof to search for election advertising the publication of which contravenes these Regulations or is proscribed by the Returning Officer; and | | (d) | any party political film within the meaning of the Films Act (Cap. 107) or any film the exhibition or distribution of which is contrary to the provisions of that Act. |
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| (5) Every political party, and every candidate or group of candidates and his or their election agents shall use its or their best efforts to ensure that any election advertising they publish or cause to be published is published in conformity with this Part and any other written law. |
(6) For the purposes of this regulation —| (a) | “functioning electronic mail address” and “functioning digital mobile phone number”, in relation to any electronic mail message, micro-blog post, SMS message or MMS message containing election advertising, mean an electronic mail address or digital mobile phone number that —| (i) | remains capable of receiving messages for not less than 14 days after the transmission of such electronic mail message, micro-blog post, SMS message or MMS message, as the case may be; and | | (ii) | has capacity, reasonably calculated in the light of the number of recipients of the electronic mail message, micro-blog post, SMS message or MMS message, as the case may be, to enable it to receive the full expected quantity of reply messages from such recipients; and |
| | (b) | an electronic mail address or a digital mobile phone number shall not cease to be a functioning electronic mail address or functioning digital mobile phone number by reason only of a temporary inability to receive electronic mail messages, micro-blog posts, SMS messages or MMS messages, as the case may be, due to technical problems, provided steps are taken to correct such technical problems within a reasonable time and without delay. |
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