Election Time Will talk to FB on blocking disinformation: EC

• The Election Commmission has shared these views with political party representatives
• It said it will uphold the right to electioneering and freedom of speech for all political parties

By Kelum Bandara 

Ahead of the national elections scheduled to be held by end of this year, the Election Commission (EC) is reportedly hoping to initiate discussions with representatives of Facebook to work out a mechanism to contain unlawful election propaganda.

  The EC has shared its views on this matter with the representatives of political parties when they raised concerns about the impact of hate speech, scurrilous and unlawful propaganda through social media networks during election time.   

Political party representatives had pointed out that in the past such social media activities were known to be carried out even even after election propaganda goes into silence mode.   
The EC pledged it would uphold the right to electioneering and freedom of speech and underscored the fact that it was impossible to regulate the activities of Facebook and Twitter during election time single-handed.   

The EC officials said internet users often use proxy sites such as VPN to access social media sites in the event they are blocked resulting in the EC deciding to engage with the representatives of Facebook to work out a mechanism to contain unlawful propaganda during the election period as otherwise it would adversely effect the candidates. 

The EC pledged it would uphold the right to electioneering and freedom  of speech and underscored the fact that it was impossible to regulate  the activities of Facebook and Twitter during election time  single-handed