Media Monitoring Africa, IEC to monitor ‘fake news’
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) with Media Monitoring Africa have launched a digital platform www.real411.org ahead of the elections.
The digital platform hopes to deal with misinformation or “fake news” ahead of the polls on May 8.
South Africans will be heading to the polls to vote their preferred political party into power, but concerns have been raised about the manner in which social media is used to spread misinformation during election season.
The IEC’s CEO Sy Mamabolo hopes the platform will help educating unsuspecting social media users.
Speaking at the Elections House in Centurion on Monday, Mamabolo said one of the key aspects of the platform is the ability to report suspected misinformation which could be in breach of the Electoral Code of Conduct.
“The third aspect of today’s initiative is a political political advertisement repository, where political parties can post copies of their official campaign material to help with the identification of false messaging.”
See below:
Media Monitoring Africa, IEC to monitor ‘fake news’ by Sine Madolo on Scribd
Mamabolo said the country’s electoral system and legislative framework has long been aware of misinformation.
“Both the sections on prohibited conduct in Electoral Act as well as the Electoral Code of Conduct prohibit false information.”
Listen below: