In a first for the Australian Electoral Commission, it’s taking a federal MP to court because their social media posts weren’t labelled as authorised political content. Let us explain… So you know when you’re watching TV and there’s that urgent voice at the end of a political ad saying it’s authorised by [insert name] for [insert party]? This is about the social media version of that. The law was updated in 2016 to require social posts relating to electoral matters published by a politician or candidate on Facebook/Twitter/etc to display an authorisation. Enter the outgoing Member for Bowman Andrew Laming… He’s been in the news a bit this year, and now he’s heading to court over social media posts that the AEC says do not make clear are his. But Laming says his name was in the ‘about’ section of the Facebook page, and just 22 people saw the posts. Pundits say it’s a warning to candidates as we head towards next year’s federal election.