The Election Commission (EC) will commence monitoring the digital media platforms of all presidential candidates following the conclusion of nominations on 15 August, according to EC Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake.
The Sunday Morning learns that a group of experts has already been appointed to carry out this task.
“This is arranged as a combined effort between a group within the EC and several outside groups since they do not possess the specific technical expertise for the monitoring,” he added.
Meanwhile, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said that, similar to last year, they would set up a separate unit to monitor the digital media campaigns of the upcoming Presidential Election.
Hettiarachchi said that they currently submitted their reports to the EC twice a day to enable the EC to take legal action as needed.
Referring to the EC, he said: “We don’t exactly know whether it relies on us or if it has its own mechanism to observe the Online Safety Act,” while adding that they would be pleased if the EC did not do so.
“If it does not rely solely on PAFFREL, we are happy with that because Government institutions also need to be prepared with the technology. Additionally, we have learnt that the Police has also set up a mechanism to observe social media, which adds value to the election. For the first time, we have learnt that these two entities are preparing for this.”
Hettiarachchi highlighted that while it was too early to judge the effectiveness of these measures, the willingness to monitor social media, regardless of the success rate, should be appreciated.
He noted: “It should be appreciated because they are adapting to technology and realising that beyond physical campaigns, social media platforms also need to be monitored. As for the success of the endeavour, we will see in a couple of weeks how they are progressing with this.”
He reiterated that monitoring digital media campaigns was more crucial for the upcoming and future elections than traditional observations, given that many candidates were using social media for their campaigns, both directly and indirectly.
He added: “This time there will be an added element with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Political parties will use AI in elections. In previous years, we have received several complaints and identified numerous issues in online campaigns. We have reported these to the EC and it took immediate action in certain cases through Meta.”