New proposals aimed at regulating online political advertising have been approved by the Cabinet.
The proposals aim to provide more regulation around paid advertising from political parties.
The Government has argued that individual online companies cannot be left to self-regulate this area.
The government has approved a proposal to regulate online political advertising during elections. Aims to highlight when something on social media is paid for by a political party
— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) November 5, 2019
Work will now get underway to draft legislation for the "regulation of transparency of online paid political advertising within election periods".
Under the proposals, online paid-for political ads will be required to be appropriately labelled.
The ads will also have to display or link to key information "in a clear and conspicuous manner".
The rules will apply to both sellers and buyers of ads, and it will be up to online platforms to determine that an ad falls under the scope of the regulation.
According to the Government, the new regulation will be aimed at protecting the integrity of elections while respecting "the fundamental right to freedom of expression and the value of political advertising".
They also say the regulations will respect the role of the internet in public political discourse, and ensure people have access to "legitimate information".
In a statement, the Government explained: "The industry has already taken steps to combat such disinformation but there is general consensus that regulation should not be left to the market.
"This proposal to regulate is limited to online political advertising and is seen as an interim measure until the establishment of a Statutory Electoral Commission which will oversee a wider reform of the electoral processes."
The announcement comes amid the ongoing debates about the role of political ads on major social media platforms.
Last week, Twitter announced it would stop showing all political advertising globally.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, recently faced intense questioning from a US congressional committee about political ads and the firm's approach to fact-checking them.
He has argued that banning political ads would "favour incumbents and whoever the media decided to cover most".
