Our work towards a fairer vote

We got started five years ago to expose wrongdoing in the EU referendum. We continue to fight today for democratic reform, campaign transparency, and digital regulation.

About Us

What is Fair Vote?

Since our launch on 24 March 2018, Fair Vote UK has held power to account in the areas of democratic reform, campaigning transparency, and digital regulation. Our premise: inform the public and let the people decide how their data is used, how their information environments are built, and how they exercise their right to vote. In the years since our launch:

Our History

Where it all started

Our first year was defined by headline-grabbing global news stories about our whistleblowers Christopher Wylie and Shahmir Sanni.

First, Vote Leave’s now confirmed law-breaking in the EU referendum. Second, Facebook’s enabling of Cambridge Analytica to take the data of 87 million people without their consent. During these campaigns, we built lasting relationships with civil society organisations, democratic institutions, and policy experts.

Fair Vote UK was set up to tackle the issue of data misuse, voter manipulation and lack of transparency in elections head-on. We are committed to ensuring the institutions that protect our democratic processes are fit for purpose in a digital age. In our view, a safe and secure digital environment and a functioning modern democracy are two sides of the same coin: a society where regular people are free to make informed choices.

Since our founding, we’ve worked with Westminster, devolved governments, the European Union, and others to push for a common-sense platform of digital and democratic reform. We’ve pushed back on the UK government’s plans to implement voter ID and restrict the right to protest, and we’ve encouraged the UK to adopt an online safety regime fit for purpose. We’re using the experience and connections we gained from our early success to keep pushing for a fair and inclusive digital democracy.

SAy hello

Meet our team

Our Support

We are committed to transparency in our leadership and sources of support. Byline Festival provided necessary funding to launch our initial project. From there, our support has come from small individual donations (below £500) and public grants from the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (JRRT) and the Luminate Group.

Join us for a fair vote

We send periodic updates about our progress with opportunities to engage directly in the work.