This past Sunday, 10 March, the Election Commission finally imposed the Model Code of Conduct for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
This involves a set of rules and guidelines for campaigning, which this time also includes a primer for social media use by parties.
The idea of the MCC is just to ensure fair play between political candidates, especially those that might be less financially equipped, as well as to avoid votes being hijacked by the stirring of communal tensions and the like. It comes into force when the EC releases the schedule for polling, and even the ruling party is subject to it.
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What's new this time around however, is that social media has also been brought under the purview of the election commission as far as political campaigning is concerned. The EC has specified that that the statues of the MCC ?and its rules regarding advertising also apply to social media platforms.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has stated that all major social media platforms, including the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Google, WhatsApp and ShareChat, have expressed a commitment to help adhere to the code of conduct laws. "All the provisions of model code of conduct shall also apply to the content being posted on the social media by candidates and political parties," the EC reportedly said.
First and foremost, political parties are allowed to criticise each other's candidates based on policies and past records, but not using personal attacks. This means no caste or communal sentiments whatsoever. On social media, that ideally would mean fewer derogatory memes. In reality though, it's easy enough to keep a meme propaganda team quiet and have the posts "organically" go viral.
It's also supposed to mean no criticisms based on unverified reports. However, fake news is almost the meat and bone of social media platforms like Facebook, especially in India. And again, it's pretty easy to get away with posting stuff like this. The onus then is on the platforms to self-regulate in a more efficient manner, because the election commission sure as heck doesn't have the power or the numbers to keep track.
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According to the new MCC, social networks are expected to only accept political advertisements certified by the EC beforehand. Additionally, they're expected to share any and all details of who's funding political ads with the EC. Then again, whether the EC has the power to act against a social network that breaks these rules is unclear.
Lastly, political parties are also expected to adhere to the "silence period" online as well. This is when parties are prohibited from advertising or campaigning for 48 hours before the polls. Online, that should mean pulling existing ads from the likes of Facebook, though there might be a loophole there parties can use.
On top of that, WhatsApp posts can't be legally considered advertising if they haven't officially come from the party, so there's absolutely no way to police that. I'm almost 100 percent sure you will continue to see forwards in support of one party or another being passed around even on the day of polling.
The EC has also reportedly decided to include SMSes and voice messages as campaign platforms, bringing them under the purview of the code of conduct. District and state level monitoring committees in charge of vetting radio and TV ads will also be looking at text messages. Additionally, they also now have a social media expert on board to monitor online platforms.
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Candidates for the elections will be required to submit details of any existing social media accounts when they're filing nominations, aside from the usual declarations. In addition, any expenditure they incur for advertising online will be included in their overall election expenditure limit. That limit is currently Rs 70 lakh, except for Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, and Sikkim, where it's Rs 54 lakh.
The EC has stated that this doesn't just include direct social network advertising, but also fees paid to middlemen like advertising agencies, PR firms, and digital content agencies.
On paper, the rules seem expansive. In reality though, it's questionable just how much cover these rules provide, let alone whether they can even remotely be enforced. Either way, we're likely to see this year's battle play out largely on social media, and you're not going to be able to escape it.