The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has partnered with Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and the non-profit organisation Moxii Africa to combat election misinformation ahead of the local government election on 4 November. The collaboration aims to give voters access to reliable information and to address the spread of misleading content on digital platforms more quickly.
Sy Mamabolo, chief elections officer of the IEC, says the partnership gives the commission direct access to the platforms concerned and enables faster action against election misinformation. The agreement includes collaboration among the partners, awareness campaigns and training for political parties, candidates and other stakeholders. The platforms can, in accordance with their own policies, remove content, place warnings or restrict the visibility of posts. The IEC emphasises that the agreement respects existing legislation and the Constitution and does not require the sharing of confidential user data.
The commission has also designated the Real411 platform to help assess suspected election misinformation. Anyone can report potential cases to Real411 or through the Real411 application. Complaints are handled in all eleven official languages. After independent assessment, recommendations can be made to the IEC and the relevant digital platform. The IEC can also refer a case to the electoral court or issue a public statement to correct false information.
Voters can read the commission's guidelines on how to identify, verify and report election misinformation on the IEC's website Read also here for more information.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
