News
Social media giants ignore EC request on illegal content
View(s):By Ishu Bandara
Social media platforms have turned down a request by the Election Commission to remove certain content that was seen as violating election regulations.
Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Google had refused to remove 201 posts that violated election laws, despite requests from the EC.
About 937 questionable posts were still awaiting follow-up action from these platforms just before the election day.
However, 872 posts that violated election laws have been removed by these international social media organisations.
The EC received 2,010 complaints on social media posts that violated regulations. These include 713 posts on hate speech, 389 cases of misinformation, 13 instances of the use of children in propaganda, 231 cases of disinformation, and 664 posts that violated the President’s Election Act.
“Their regulations differ from ours, so sometimes they refuse to remove the content we request. They say that, according to their regulations, they don’t see these posts as a violation. Unfortunately, we can’t exert strong influence over them, so we have to rely on mutual understanding,” Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake told the Sunday Times.
People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said that, aside from the misuse of state power and resources, the major impact on the election came from social media violations.
He noted that these violations, particularly during the silent period, had escalated significantly.
“During the silent period, 846 paid advertisements were published in social media, and in collaboration with Hashtag, we reported these to the Election Commission and relevant authorities to have them removed and to initiate legal action against those responsible,” Mr. Hettiarachchi said.
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