ECI Directs Responsible And Ethical Use Of Social Media Platforms By Political Parties

The Election Commission 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 on Monday. The Commission took cognizance of certain violations of Model Code of Conduct and the extant legal provisions by political parties/ their representatives while using social media for election campaigning.

The Commission also warned the parties against misuse of AI based tools to create deep fakes that distort information or propagate misinformation, emphasising the need to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.

The ECI also directed parties to refrain from publishing and circulating deep fake audios/ videos, disseminate any misinformation or information which is patently false, untrue or misleading in nature, to refrain from posting derogatory content towards women, to abstain from using children in campaigns, to avoid depicting violence or harm to animals.

The ECI directed parties 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 and fake user accounts to respective platforms, and escalate persistent issues to the Grievance Appellate Committee under Rule 3A of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.