Prez Poll: EC team to monitor, probe false information on social media

The Election Commission has set-up an in-house team to monitor and investigate complaints received over false information on social media applications and platforms to ensure a free and fair election, Elections Deputy Commissioner General Piyumi Artigala said.

Social media applications, platforms and websites most popular among the youth in the country who will get their first opportunity to vote in the upcoming Presidential Election, such as TikTok, Instagram besides YouTube and Facebook, will be investigated based on complaints received on election violation material published, to check if they are violating the community standards, guidelines and election laws regulated by the Election Commission and will take action to inform the administration of those social media applications and websites using different methods to verify on complaints received.

The Election Commission will also advise to remove such uploads that fail to adhere to community standards, guidelines and laws regulated to all media, Deputy Commissioner General Artigala said.

Artigala said that a Social Media Regulatory Committee has been established to monitor violations of election guidelines and laws by social media platforms and act accordingly which she said was challenging unlike electronic and printed media due to the extremely fast pace in which posts and videos are uploaded and shared.

She said that another private institution has agreed to assist the Election Commission to minimize fake visuals and information published online using Artificial Intelligence (AI) which is another first initiative implemented at the upcoming presidential election.

A special ‘touch and vote’ method will be used for the upcoming Presidential election 2024 for visually impaired people for the first time in Sri Lankan election voting history, Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake said.

He said this during the press conference to inform the media on important facts by the Election Commission on the upcoming Presidential election held at the Government Information Department Auditorium presided over by Mass Media Ministry Secretary Anusha Palpita yesterday (9).

Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said that the Election Commission will be assisted by 225,000 public servants and 54,000 Police personnel during the presidential election for the election activities and duties. He said that the cost incurred by the Election Commission for each additional candidate is Rs.200 million.

The ballot paper which is 27 cm in length will be split into two columns if the total number of presidential candidates cannot be displayed for voting in one column, the Commissioner General of Elections added.

The Election Commission has issued two special gazette notifications on 26 July, 2024 regarding Media Guidelines to follow and Directions to prevent the direct or indirect use of movable or immovable properties belonging to the State, State Corporations or Statutory Boards during the period of an election for the promotion of or in prejudice to any party, group or candidate or obstructing the conduct of the election.

The Commissioner General of Elections stressed on the importance and responsibility of all the media institutions to uphold and stick to moral values when publishing any content related to any presidential candidate, political party or group during the upcoming presidential election time period and said that it is the duty and responsibility of media institutions to stick to moral obligations.

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