Social media has become a powerful force in shaping elections with its ability to rapidly spread information that is both accurate and misleading. In Sri Lanka, during the pre-Presidential Election period, political parties and candidates increasingly relied on digital platforms to promote their campaigns. Content ranging from election advertisements to endorsements flooded social media, influencing voters on a massive scale.
However, despite the growing impact of these platforms, authorities have struggled to regulate them effectively. Misleading information, biased content, and unchecked political advertisements continue to circulate, highlighting the urgent need for better control.
Social media has become a key tool in campaigning, with presidential candidates reaching wider audiences through targeted advertisements, memes, and emotional appeals. Nevertheless, efforts to manage this influence have fallen short, leaving voters vulnerable to manipulation and misinformation in the lead-up to the election.
According to a report by the People’s Action for a Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), between 17 August and 11 September, social media monitoring teams identified widespread non-compliance across platforms, with approximately 300 posts flagged on Facebook, 83 on TikTok, 19 on YouTube, and seven on X.
Despite efforts to regulate, these platforms have been ineffective in curbing election-related violations.
Of the flagged content, 195 posts were deemed violations of election laws, while 186 posts breached community standards. These include 90 cases of misinformation, 35 incidents of hate speech, 22 instances of bullying and harassment, 14 posts advocating violence, nine involving minors, six related to violence and criminal behaviour, two concerning on-ground violence, and eight impacting election integrity.
PAFFREL, Hashtag Generation monitoring and action
Despite monitoring efforts from PAFFREL throughout the election period, controlling measures on these platforms have clearly fallen short. Currently, PAFFREL reports social media activities and submits its complaints to the Election Commission (EC) on a daily basis.
When contacted by The Sunday Morning, PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi noted that the main problem posed by online election campaigning was the spread of misinformation and disinformation. As the dynamics of social media have evolved, becoming increasingly sophisticated and potentially more problematic than in previous years, these issues continue to be on the rise.
According to Hettiarachchi, the issue of fake news is rampant, with disinformation being weaponised as a tool to discredit opponents.
When it comes to guidelines on what content can or cannot be posted on social media platforms, the implementation of these guidelines poses a challenge. Due to the vast expanse of such platforms, the monitoring of content requires explicit and strict monitoring.
Hettiarachchi shared that PAFFREL was working closely with Hashtag Generation and the EC: “We monitor based on the guidelines imposed by the EC. Since we’re working with Hashtag Generation on this, our lawyers go through all these platforms and report to the EC.”
The PAFFREL ‘First Interim Report (Pre-Election Period)’ notes: “In the lead-up to the 2019 Presidential Election, PAFFREL observed that despite the rapid growth of sociopolitical discourse on social media in recent years, it remained a domain that was not actively monitored for violations of national election laws.
“In this context, PAFFREL partnered with Hashtag Generation to implement a multi-pronged strategy aimed at identifying violations of election law, disinformation, and hate speech on Facebook during the lead-up to, during, and in the immediate aftermath of the Presidential Election as a targeted intervention.
“A team has been deployed to monitor hate speech, wrong information, and inappropriate explanations which can mislead the public and create chaos, and they will be reported to the EC’s attention for necessary actions. After the EC’s attention, they will be directed to Sri Lanka Facebook representatives for necessary actions.”
Hashtag Generation Elections and Information Integrity Specialist Darshatha Gamage pointed out the differences in election media coverage in 2024 and 2019.
“During 2019 and 2020, we saw many posts based on factors such as ethnicity, religion, and national security, primarily post-Easter Sunday attacks. We saw a lot of hate speech during that election in comparison to this election, where the main topics have been economic recovery and reforms.”
He stated that hate speech was not predominant in election-related social media discussions, although the spread of disinformation was notably present.
Gamage further noted that one of the biggest trends they had noticed during the current election period – outside of disinformation – was the attempts at discrediting candidates, even “insulting” them.
He added that presidential candidates were also using their personal pages, YouTube channels, and TikTok accounts for official campaigning purposes. “Most of them violate media guidelines and codes of conduct through the use of minors in their campaigns, imagery and videography of religious places, the National Flag and national symbols, and so on,” he said.
The task of the EC
“Unlike other forms of media, we cannot completely control social media,” EC Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake told The Sunday Morning.
“The EC has included social media in the media guidelines we have released. Despite this, social media proves to have a more disadvantageous than advantageous impact, both on political parties and voters. Information being spread via online platforms poses a threat to voter behaviour, as such information is not always true.
“At present, if there are around 400 posts that violate the EC’s social media guidelines, we’re only able to take down around 100 of them. It’s a huge procedure and it takes a long time to take down even one post, which is a huge burden on the EC.”
The influence of social media on Sri Lankan elections has intensified between 2019 and 2024, with the concerns around its role in shaping voter behaviour and spreading misinformation persisting over time.
In the 2019 Presidential Election, a study titled ‘Sri Lankan Politics and Social Media Participation’ (Kaluarachchi et al., 2020) revealed key issues such as fake news, social fragmentation, and voter manipulation.
Researchers found that posts promoting candidates (26%), spreading fake news (9%), and causing social fragmentation (17%) were prevalent across public Facebook groups, significantly influencing political discourse. Engagement levels on posts related to economic justice and social fragmentation stood out, accounting for over 20% of total interactions, highlighting social media’s role in dividing public opinion.
Fast-forward to 2024 and the landscape is much the same but with even greater challenges.
The EC has acknowledged that despite efforts to regulate online content, social media platforms remain largely uncontrolled. The rapid spread of misinformation, hate speech, and misleading content continues to influence voters, much like it did in 2019.
However, the scale of the problem has grown, with more platforms in play and the EC facing difficulties in removing inappropriate posts, only managing to take down a fraction of the violations reported.
While both 2019 and 2024 share concerns around misinformation and its impact on elections, the current situation reveals that the issues surrounding social media have become even more entrenched, with authorities struggling to keep pace with the rapid flow of digital content.