156. (1) Where—

(a) during an election campaign period, the Commission is satisfied from information available, whether obtained through its monitoring, or otherwise, of online electoral information or provided by any other person or otherwise, in relation to a previously identified online location, that any online electoral information constitutes disinformation,

(b) at any time, the Commission is satisfied from information available in relation to a previously identified online location, obtained through its monitoring of online electoral information or provided by any other person or otherwise, that any online electoral process information constitutes misinformation, or

(c) during an election campaign period, the Commission is satisfied from the information available, that bot activity that constitutes manipulative or inauthentic behaviour or the use of an undisclosed bot contrary to section 167 is taking or has taken place at a previously identified online location, and the Commission is satisfied that the issuing of such an order is necessary to protect the fairness or integrity of the election or referendum, the Commission may issue an access-blocking order, for such period as the Commission considers appropriate, requiring any online platform to take reasonable steps to disable access to the online location.

(2) An order under this section shall:

(a) include a statement of reasons for the Commission’s opinion that the conditions in subsection (1) are met;

(b) include the precise previously identified online location for the online electoral information referred to in subsection (1)(a) or the online electoral process information referred to in subsection (1)(b);

(c) contain a statement by the Commission in respect of the previously identified online location;

(d) inform the person to whom the order is addressed that he or she shall cause the statement in paragraph (c) to be published at the previously identified online location referred to in paragraph (b);

(e) inform the person to whom the order is addressed of the right to appeal the order under section 161 within 5 days from the date on which the order was issued.

(3) The statement referred to in subsection (2)(c) shall state clearly—

(a) that an access-blocking order has been issued pursuant to this section,

(b) a summary of the reasons why the Commission made the order, and

(c) such further information as may be specified in guidelines issued under section 152 or deemed necessary or appropriate by the Commission in all the circumstances.

(4) The order may also contain such further information or statement as the Commission shall deem appropriate having regard to all the circumstances.

(5) In this section, “previously identified online location” means an online location where 2 or more separate pieces of online content have been the subject of a notice or order under section 153 , 154 , 156 or 157 within the same electoral period, which election period is the same as the election period in respect of which it is proposed to make the access-blocking order.