Facebook and TikTok will help filter out misinformation targeted at affecting elections on Falgun 21. Meta and TikTok have reached out to the Election Commission pledging to facilitate the authority to help uphold the election transparency and clean.
Election Commission spokesman Narayan Prasad Bhattarai informed that Facebook’s parent company Meta and TikTok have responded positively in response to the commission’s request for cooperation in the election.
“Representatives of Meta and TikTok have responded positively. When we contacted them, they seemed ready to help,” he said at a press conference on Friday, January 09. “In addition, efforts are being made to contact other social media platforms. The commission is confident that everyone will cooperate to conduct the election.”
Bhattarai expressed hope that other social media platforms will also be positive on the initiative, as they did in previous elections.
It’s not the first time that social media platforms have come forward to help keep elections free of misinformation. Meta did cooperate in previous local-level elections, too.
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Social Media under scrutiny for Falgun 21 election
Social media has become a prominent mode of reaching voters, but also a tool to spread misinformation and false news that can malign the standing candidates. We have seen it become a bigger concern with AI images and videos circulating more these days. Thus, citizens and social media, as well as all the stakeholders, need to be alert and also responsible.
Nepal goes to vote on Falgun 21 (March 05) to elect the new members in the House of Representatives (HoR), the lower house in Nepal’s parliament.