An influential parliamentary committee will examine the campaigning of two secretive pro-Brexit groups that, between them, have spent nearly £500,000 on Facebook advertisements lobbying for a hard break from the European Union.



Damian Collins, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told BuzzFeed News that his committee will look into the activity of Britain’s Future and We Are the 52% as part of an extended inquiry into the impact of disinformation in British politics.

Speaking to the House of Commons on Tuesday, Collins suggested that the young Tory activists running the mysterious campaigns may be called to give evidence to the committee. “We may want to call in people like that in the future as part of investigations,” Collins told MPs.

Britain’s Future and We Are the 52% have emerged seemingly from nowhere in the last few months to become among the biggest spenders on political advertising on Facebook in the UK, reaching millions of people while providing very little information about their origins or sources of funding.

Britain’s Future has been the biggest political advertiser on Facebook since November, spending more than £430,000. Its expenditures have eclipsed those of the well-resourced Remain-supporting campaigns, the UK government, and the major political parties. We Are the 52% has spent nearly £50,000.

The campaigns’ digital reach has given them an outsized influence on the Brexit debate at a crucial moment in the nation’s political history, but MPs and transparency campaigners have expressed concerns that so little is known about their origins, who is involved in making decisions, and the identities of their donors.

Campaign experts who have examined the groups say they’re doubtful that they could’ve raised so much money so quickly through small donations, and that a few wealthy donors may be using the campaigns to lobby for a hard Brexit without revealing their identities.