CEC wants social media platforms to detect fake news faster

Social media companies should ensure faster and more comprehensive scans of their platforms for the detection of fake news floated to influence the polls around the world, Chief Election Commissioner, Rajiv Kumar, said.

Kumar noted that social media platforms did self-proclaim that they had content display policies, but they also had the “algorithm power” in play. He said that the expectation of the Election Management Bodies (EMBs) around the world for earlier and deeper red-flagging of fake news by social media companies based on known modus operandi and genres was not unfair.

He was speaking after inaugurating an international conference in New Delhi on Monday. The EC is hosting the conference.

The representatives of India, the United States, and several other nations are attending the two-day conclave to discuss the “Role, Framework and Capacity of Election Management Bodies (EMBs)”. The conference is being held as a follow-on to the “Summit for Democracy” that the US President had hosted on December 9 and 10 last year, with participation of many Heads of States and Heads of Governments from around the world – including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had addressed it virtually.

The Chief Election Commissioner said that a proactive approach to counter fake news would facilitate credible electoral outcomes that would help preserve the ‘freedoms’, which the social media platforms require to thrive.

India’s poll watchdog is leading the cohort on “Election Integrity” – one of the many initiatives launched to strengthen democracies around the world as part of the “Year of Action” following the summit hosted by the US president.

“India’s Election Commission is a testament of a well run election management body overseeing electoral processes,” the new acting envoy of Washington D.C. to New Delhi, Elizabeth Jones, said at the inaugural ceremony of the conference hosted by the EC. “Administration of Indian elections has set standards for democracies worldwide”, she added.

She also highlighted various emerging challenges in the conduct of elections, including manipulation of the information environment, barriers in participation of women and marginalized communities, narrowing civic spaces and systemic corruption undermining electoral integrity.

Nearly 50 participants representing the EMBs of India, the USA and nine other countries – Armenia, Mauritius, Nepal, Cabo Verde, Australia, Chile, Federal States of Micronesia, Greece and Philippines – are participating in the conference. The representatives of International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IIDEA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are also attending the conference, in addition to representation from the diplomatic missions of many other foreign nations in New Delhi, according to a press-release issued by he EC.