IEC and social media giants to curb disinformation as 2024 elections approach

The Electoral Commission (IEC) has partnered with Google, Meta, TikTok and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) to curb disinformation in the run up to the 2024 general election.

The parties signed a framework of co-operation to combat disinformation and other digital harms. 

IEC said the use of digital media in the past few years had led to a surge in disinformation, particularly on social media platforms, and if left unchecked it could undermine the conduct of credible elections. 

IEC chair Mosotho Moepya said disinformation poses a threat to the exercise of various rights, including freedom of expression, access to credible information, and the freedom to make informed political choices.

“The dissemination of disinformation has huge potential to undermine the fairness and credibility of elections. Credible information is the lifeblood of all democracies. Trustworthy information is crucial in the process that enables citizens to choose their leaders,” said Moepya.

The purpose of the framework:

• Establish co-operation during the election period in good faith;
• Collaboration that respects the law and doesn’t require sharing confidential user data;
• Align with the SA constitution, the electoral act, and electoral code of conduct;
• Support the establishment of a working group between partners, promote access to accurate information, conduct awareness campaigns on elections, and provide training to political parties, election candidates and other key election stakeholders on addressing disinformation;
• Allow online platforms to implement policies and processes such as content removal, advisory warnings, and delisting to address disinformation; and
• Enable signatories to co-operate with the IEC and MMA initiatives including Real411.org (complaints platform) to combat disinformation.

“Real411 takes proactive measures against disinformation,” said MMA Africa director William Bird. “On careful review of any reported complaint indicating disinformation or misinformation, the commission promptly notifies the relevant online platform. The platform is expected to acknowledge and swiftly process the notification, ensuring a diligent response.”

Abongile Mashile, senior manager for government affairs and public policy at Google Southern Africa, said the search engine was committed to supporting democratic processes, including supporting elections’ integrity and ensuring trust among voters. 

“We place a big focus on creating products and programmes that enable people across the globe to engage with these activities through the information that is accurate, protecting elections and campaigns from bad actors, as well as assisting campaigns in managing their digital presence,” Mashile said. 

Balkissa Idé Siddo, public policy director for Africa at Meta, said the integrity of the 2024 elections in SA is a priority. “As our platforms continue to play an important role in civic discussions around the world, including in SA, we know we have an important responsibility,” Balkissa added. 

“Using lessons from the past, and input from a range of experts, including dedicated and local teams within Meta, we continue to make substantial investments to help take aggressive steps in fighting abuse across our platforms, while rolling out policies and products to help ensure a safe and secure general election. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the SA Electoral Commission.”

Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, TikTok’s public policy and government relations director in Africa said: “We take the responsibility to protect our community as well as the integrity of our platform — particularly around elections — with the utmost seriousness ... we work hard to keep harmful misinformation and other violations of our policies off our platform.”

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