The Labour Party has accused Reform UK of importing “the worst populist tactics” which have “undermined” democracy elsewhere.
The comments by Labour Deputy Leader Lucy Powell come as reports from Europe and the United States suggest that political parties and opinions challenging the mainstream are increasingly subject to censorship.
In a number of articles and interviews over the past week, Powell stated that Reform has exploited online algorithms to amplify their support, claiming that their use of social media sites in this manner “is well documented”.
The Labour MP called for a clamp down on online platforms, saying that the lack of regulation is a “fundamental threat to democracy”.
Reform immediately hit back at Powell's claims, calling her a “conspiracy theorist desperately trying to distract from a failing Labour government” and accusing her of “smearing voters and demanding more state censorship”.
Reform Is Growing
The Reform party, only founded in 2024, was the primary beneficiary of Labour’s poor performance at recent local elections in the UK. Reform gained hundreds of seats at the expense of both Labour and the Conservative Party. The traditional political powerhouses both saw their share of seats decimated, while Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer has consistently polled as one of Britain’s most unpopular leaders of all time.
Social media tracking tools have previously suggested that one of Reform's strengths has been its use of social media. In 2024, data from CrowdTangle showed that the party had "dominated" other political parties in building organic interactions.
The mainstream Conservative and Labour parties are coming under pressure from both left and right as voters grow increasingly frustrated over immigration, housing and the cost of living.
This development is not confined to the UK. France faces the unprecedented prospect of a presidential election in which parties often classed as far right and far left could compete directly for the country’s leadership.
Meanwhile, in Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is also struggling in the polls, with the far-right AfD now the most popular party.
Exploiting Misinformation
Back in the UK, Powell leveled two main criticisms at Reform. The first concerned a scandal surrounding a donation received by Nigel Farage shortly before he became an MP, which Statement covered previously. The second focused on the party’s use of social media, which Powell says exploits what she describes as the “scourge” of online misinformation.
It is not the first time Labour has accused Reform MPs of repeating false claims online. Labour MP Emily Thornberry previously claimed that the right-wing party’s politicians rewarded websites that sow anger and spread disinformation. She cited the example of Reform leader Nigel Farage saying that London was “in the grip of a crime wave”.
However, a recent report by the think tank Social Market Foundation (SMF) found that false information targeting not only the Green Party and Labour, but also Reform, had appeared on X and Facebook during a by-election earlier this year.
Previous investigations into online misinformation have found that a variety of political causes and parties have been targeted. One investigation suggested that Iranian-linked fake profiles had sought to influence debate on Scottish independence, Brexit and broader institutional collapse.
Censoring Debate
These political developments have drawn an increasingly forceful response from established political powers at national level and from the European Union. In Germany, the AfD was controversially classified as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence, while the EU has been accused of pursuing a policy of censoring online debate.
A report from the judiciary committee of the US Congress released earlier this year alleged that the EU had pressured social media giants to remove and block posts that spread so-called misinformation. The report argued the moves were part of an “effort to silence political opposition and suppress online narratives that criticize the political establishment”.
In one instance, the report says TikTok told the European Commission that it had censored more than 45,000 pieces of alleged “misinformation”. The material included political speech on topics such as “migration, climate change, security and defence and LGBTQ rights”, ahead of the 2024 EU elections.
Crackdown on Free Speech
Powell’s comments on the spread of alleged misinformation tap into a debate that is repeatedly cropping up across Europe. While the EU pursues a policy of tougher regulation of big tech, some countries are considering going even further in their bid to regulate expression online.
In the UK, police have repeatedly courted controversy for their investigations into online comments expressing conservative views on contentious public debates, while in April German Chancellor Merz said that he found it “regrettable” that “on social networks, anyone can say what they think".
Already, studies suggest that online clampdowns are suppressing lawful expression. One study by Vanderbilt University and The Future of Free Speech examined comments deleted by Facebook and YouTube in France, Germany and Sweden. It found that the vast majority of comments removed as a so-called security risk expressed legally permissible opinions.
As mainstream parties come under increasing pressure for change from voters, critics argue that, rather than heeding their calls, center-left and center-right leaders are pursuing stricter controls on free expression while portraying insurgent parties as threats to democracy.
