The Election Commission issued a mandate on Monday asking political parties to remove fake content from their social media platforms within three hours of noticing such content being posted.
The Election Commission gave clear instructions to political parties about using social media responsibly during elections, wanting everyone to play fair, so they're cracking down on violations that they've noticed.
Recently, some fake videos popped up online showing Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and actors Aamir Khan and Ranveer Singh. They were eventually removed and complaints were filed.
The Election Commission also told parties not to misuse tech like AI to make fake videos that spread misinformation and emphasized to keep elections fair and honest.
What Did Election Commission Say?
A statement issued by the EC said, "Taking cognizance of certain violations of MCC and the extant legal provisions by Political Parties/their representatives while using social media for election campaigning, the Commission today has issued directions to political parties for responsible and ethical use of social media in election campaigning to ensure level playing field among all stakeholders."
"The parties have been directed to promptly remove any such content within three hours of bringing it to their notice, warn the person responsible in their party reporting unlawful information," it added.
The EC told political parties not to indulge in impersonation like other parties or their members, on social media. But they haven't said yet how they'll deal with satirical and parody accounts.
The letter from the Election Commission referenced specific laws that could be applied. These include Section 66C and Section 66D of the Information Technology Act, Section 123(4) of the Representation of People Act, Section 171G, Section 465, Section 469, and Section 505 of the Indian Penal Code, and Paragraph (I)(2) of the Model Code of Conduct.
This comes a week after a group from the BJP, led by current IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, went to the Election Commission. They asked for "urgent measures required to address the impact of deep fakes on the electoral process".
