HYDERABAD: The 48-hour pre-electoral silent period ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha polls will commence on April 9 across Telangana. Nevertheless, considering the magnanimous role social media plays in election campaigning, it is important to gauge how quiet the ‘poll silence’ would actually be.
As per rules issued by the Election Commission, the pre-electoral silence prohibits circulation of ads or paid posts on social media by political parties contesting in the elections. In this regard, the EC has set up district-level media certification teams for verifying each and every ad content before letting them go up on social media. In other words, political ads would be flagged even before they get posted online. In the case of a political ad getting published, social media giants have assured to take them down within three hours, if notified.
However, experts point out that the ban may only apply to advertisements put out by candidates and political parties demographically from within the State and that there was no way the EC could put restrictions on ads flowing in from other parts of the country.
“Campaigning will be in full swing in other parts of the country. It needs to be seen whether the social media giants would regulate national-level ads targeting Telangana and more importantly, if the EC would monitor them,” said Praveen Chandrahas, member and data expert from Forum for IT.
The issue remains pertinent as ads of parties like the AAP often pop up on newsfeeds of users from Telangana. In fact, a look at Facebook ad library shows at least 5-10 per cent of ads generated by BJP affiliated pages -- that are run at the national level -- target Telangana.
Further, experts say that it is not only ads one needs to be wary of but also the social media algorithms that are not ‘public’ in terms of how they work. “Even if they ban ads, what about the posts from our friend circles that are targeted at us based on our preferences? No social media has come out and stated why they show some posts to specific people and not to others and vice versa. The algorithms may work towards magnifying a certain ideology and the EC will not be able to control it at all,” added Praveen.
‘National parties may not target TS’
Meanwhile, officials from the EC clarified that it would be unlikely of national parties, campaigning elsewhere in the country, to speak about the candidates in the fray here. But at the same time, the officials are not ruling out such a possibility