Partner with social media platforms, SADC electoral bodies told

Electoral management bodies (EMBs) within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been urged to partner with social media platforms to curb the spread of fake news and a growing abuse of social media during elections.The Electoral Commission Forum of SADC countries (ECF-SADC), through its elections observer mission in its final report on the South African elections that took place last month, urged South Africa to share lessons learnt with electoral management bodies within SADC from its partnership social media platforms.The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) last year partnered with social media companies Google, Meta and TikTok through a cooperation framework, where possible, to mitigate the risks associated with elections.Counter false info In the report, the IEC was implored to continue with its initiatives to partner with social media platforms and organisations to counter disinformation and misinformation.“Given its expertise and initiatives, the IEC South Africa could capacitate and support other EMBs in the SADC region on strategies for dealing with disinformation and social media,” the regional electoral forum said.The forum highlighted the importance of EMBs having strategies in place to mitigate misinformation and disinformation and building partnerships with the mainstream media and social media platforms.It further urged electoral bodies to implement online voter registration platforms because they contribute to the "mobilisation of first-time voters and the youth.”The report said the use of innovation in electoral technology by the Electoral Commission of South Africa "should be implemented and monitored effectively."Government communicators were trained on Meta’s approach to combatting misinformation as well as the various safety and security features they can use on our platforms.An election resource centre was also created on Meta’s website, specifically for the South African elections, which provided stakeholders with information such as how to secure their accounts and how to best reach and engage voters with authoritative information.

Partner with social media platforms, SADC electoral bodies told

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-15

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Partner with social media platforms, SADC electoral bodies told

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-15

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