Social Media and its Impact on Elections

Political campaigns are not just confined to posters and banners.

Social media has changed the political game, allowing incumbents and newcomers alike to speak directly to voters on everything from their own vs opponents parties’ policies. Almost all Indian political leaders have taken up social media, predominantly Facebook and Twitter, to express themselves without the filtering by conventional media.

Current age new political aspirants get extended support from using social media platforms, which cost less than one percent of the main media cost and are easily tapped by anyone with just a smartphone having an internet connection. Based on the elections happening around the world, it’s a known fact that social media can help level the playing field in politics, where money and access to formal communication channels pose huge barriers to newcomers in politics.

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Political campaigns are not just confined to posters and banners. Social Media campaigns are full of info-commercials, advertisements, blog posts, and lakhs of tweets, Instagram posts and Facebook posts. Politicians are now able to convey their message through endless info-commercials and gauge their communication by viewing direct responses to their actions on social platforms.

Political Fake News stories or hoaxes are created on social media to deliberately misinform or disinformation and deceive the voter. Usually, these stories are created to influence the voter’s views, push a political agenda, or cause confusion or manipulate perceptions. What would happen to our communities, our business or our government if we can’t trust what we read, hear or see?

As political campaigns are expensive and the need to reach out to constituencies is becoming more imperative, social media will undoubtedly play a more important role in influencing electoral results.

Pros of Social Media in Election Campaigning:-

• Easy to get details on events, schedules an election agenda
• Representatives can directly interact live with voters
• Minute by minute information is available on social media

Cons of Social Media in Election Campaigning:-

• Connecting local masses and reaching out to individual voters who are not on the Internet is difficult
• Politicians use this to make more noise and are sometimes a way to encouraging polarisation
• Is a threat multiplier and can increase overall suspicion, outrage, hatred, and violence because of Misinformation and Disinformation
• Political minorities are using social media to create a political gridlock

Media Certification & Monitoring Committee in India:-

This committee clears political advertisements before being telecast on television channels and cable networks by any registered political party or by any group or organisation/association or by any contesting candidate during elections. MCMC’s three major functions are (1) Pre-certification of Political advertisements on electronic media including social media. (2) Monitoring and action on Paid News cases. (3) Monitoring media violation cases during the election process.

The Election Commission has developed a set of ‘Voluntary Code of Ethics’ for the General Elections prior to the Lok Sabha 2019 elections. Voluntary Code of Ethics’ has been developed to ensure free, fair and ethical use of social media platforms and to maintain the integrity of the electoral process.

At a high-level, Media Certification and Monitoring Committee approach looks good, but in practicality, there are plenty of open statements in the approach, as we seeing every day political parties speak defamatory about opponents and sometimes issuing provocation statement with intent to incite violence.

The non-existence of regulating laws for social media along with non-application of Section 126 and other Sections of the Representation of the Peoples Act 1951 can result in abuse and misuse of social media.

Best practices for political campaigns:-

• Fact check by social media influencers prior to publishing
• Engaging voters with live videos
• Young voters mustn’t be ignored
• Put your fundraising/expense efforts open to voters
• Learn how to manage online negative comments
• Request for feedback or opinions online
• Focus more on shares than likes
• Post positive, nonpartisan posts as much as possible
• Have a schedule for social media posting with one point a day

Conclusion

Social media platforms, political parties, civil society and election authorities should put more effort into how social media platforms are used by politicians during elections and frame a comprehensive guideline that benefits the voter.

Anil Rachamalla- (End Now Foundation,www.endnowfoundation.org) 

Stay Tuned to Cyber Talk Column for more on internet ethics and digital wellness

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