ELECTION NEWS - Just over a month since its launch, the Electoral Commission’s (IEC) pilot project to combat digital disinformation has reportedly received more than 70 complaints.
Thus far, 34 complaints have been finalised and the IEC said it planned to process the rest as they received them.
Interestingly, the committee set up to assess complaints states that to date, no instances of deliberate disinformation have been found.
A number of the complaints, while not disinformation, have related to the tone and content of messages by political parties and contestants, which have the ability to cause offence and/or undue political tension and rivalry.
In these cases, the Electoral Commission is addressing these complaints with the relevant political parties.
Several complaints refer to news articles or opinion pieces on news websites and those have been referred to the Press Council where appropriate.
“It is important to note that journalists reporting on what politicians say is not disinformation. A free press is critical for free and fair elections, and encourages accountability and keeps the electorate informed. Another area of potential confusion relates to the nuances of satire. Satire has an important role to play in political commentary and the Electoral Commission is committed to ensuring that free speech is not undermined in this disinformation initiative,” said the IEC.
Due to the fact that there can be confusion as to what emanates from the political party and what does not, the IEC has also issued a special advisory about using original images of political party material.
Publishers of satirical material “would be well served to indicate content as satire to mitigate people reporting such to the online platform” added the IEC.
