THE REFERENDUM COMMISSION will have no role in overseeing social media campaigning or advertising in the abortion referendum, the Irish Times is reporting.

The referendum on the repeal of the Eighth Amendment is to take place on 25 May of this year and earlier this month the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) released an update of its referenda guidelines.

Although the BAI said that its statutory powers don’t stretch to how social media is used, it said that broadcasters should have “policies and procedures for handling on-air contributions via social media”.

In an article for the Irish Times, Judge Isobel Kennedy, the chair of the Referendum Commission, said that the commission doesn’t have “any role in the regulation or oversight of campaign funding, spending or advertising” and that it has no role in how social media may be used by various campaigns.

So, today we’re asking: Should social media be policed during the Eighth Amendment referendum?

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