To ensure free, fair and ethical usage of social media to maintain the integrity of the electoral process for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, social media platforms will create a high priority dedicated reporting mechanism and appoint dedicated teams during the period of General Elections for taking expeditious action on any reported violations.
The social media intermediary members of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Wednesday said that they have adopted a voluntary code of ethics for the upcoming general elections.
“Under the Code, participants have voluntarily undertaken to establish a high-priority communication channel with the nodal officers designated by the Election Commission (EC),” said the association.
“Participants including BIGO, ByteDance, Facebook, Google, Sharechat and Twitter have also agreed to take action on the content reported by the nodal officer, expeditiously, in accordance with the law,” they said.
In a Voluntary Code of Ethics prepared by them after a meeting with Election Commission, the Social Media platforms also agreed to provide a mechanism for political advertisers to submit pre-certified advertisements issued by Media Certification and Monitoring Committee in relation to election advertisements that feature names of political parties and candidates.
The Code of Ethics also promises to facilitate transparency in paid political advertisements. “ Participants shall expeditiously process/action paid political advertisements lawfully notified to participants by the EC that do not feature such certification. Participants will commit to facilitating transparency in paid political advertisements, including utilising their pre-existing labels/ disclosure technologyfor such advertisements,” it said.
As per the code of ethics, participants and the EC have developed a notification mechanism by which the EC can notify the relevant platforms of potential violations of Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951and other applicable electoral laws in accordance with procedures established by law. “These valid legal orders will be acknowledged and/ or processed within 3 hours for violations reported under Section 126 as per the Sinha Committee recommendations. All other valid legal requests will be acted upon expeditiously by the Participants, based on the nature of reported violation,” it said.
This Code will become effective and will enter into force on March 20, 2019 and will be in force for the duration of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
It has been developed to ensure free, fair and ethical usage of Social Media Platforms to maintain the integrity of the electoral process. The Code of Ethics has been prepared as a follow up to the yesterday’s meeting with IAMAI and representatives of Social Media Platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Google, ShareChat and TikTok.
