People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) urged the Election Commission to take steps to end the spread of fake postal voting results on social media.
The request comes in the wake of doctored reports being spread on social media, claiming to predict the outcome of the upcoming Presidential election. One such opinion poll falsely attributed to the European Union (EU), stated that the National People’s Power (NPP) held the majority vote, with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) being second and third respectively.
In a letter to the Election Commission, PAFFREL said that it is the responsibility of the Election Commission and the police to take appropriate action at the earliest opportunity.
“There is a lot of room for undue influence on public opinion through such fake survey reports,” it said.
“With the help of Facebook and the Cyber Crime Unit of the police department, the attention of the authorities should be directed towards finding out who is behind the creation of these fake reports and penalize them accordingly,” PAFFREL wrote.
PAFFREL urged the Deputy Director for verification of facts in the Presidential Media Division, Sandun Arosha Fernando and Indika Pushpakumara to take a stand against misinformation at this vital stage. “Such falsified reports will cause great damage to the integrity of the election system and it is imperative that groups responsible for election proceedings intervene,” PAFFREL said.
In the age of deep-fakes generated by Artificial Intelligence and falsified internet reports that threaten to undermine the credibility of the democratic process, voters need more than ever to read between the lines and discern truth from lies.