Please vote for a digital rights candidate today

WePromise.eu is a Europe-wide campaign, which ORG and 35 other organisations have signed up to. It’s a simple idea: candidates promise to support a Charter of 10 digital rights principles, citizens promise that they will vote for candidates who have signed the Charter.

It’s really important that we get as many pro-digital rights MEPs as possible so that we can push digital rights up the European agenda. Key issues like retaining our privacy online, controlling our personal data, owning the media we buy, and having a free and open Internet are often most fiercely debated in the European Parliament. Europe is arguably the most important layer of government for digital issues, so it is vital that we elect people who are willing to listen.

WePromise is a great way of finding out which MEPs are willing to make a stand. But we’ve also been questioning and filming MEP candidates directly at political hustings in Brighton, Bristol, London, Manchester, Norwich and Sheffield. Some candidates have been very impressive, while others, perhaps less so. It makes a difference who we elect: which is much less about their political allegiance than the work they are prepared to do when they get to the Parliament.

Please make sure you vote today, and vote for candidates that care about digital rights!