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from the ongoing general elections to the Haryana &
Maharashtra legislative assemblies and various bye-
elections being held simultaneously. IAMAI and social
media platforms Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, Goog-
le, Sharechat and TikTok had presented and observed
this “Voluntary Code of Ethics” during the General
Election to 17th Lok Sabha 2019. IAMAI has assured
the Commission that the platforms will cooperate in
ensuring the conduct of free and fair elections.
As a result of the Commission’s vigorous persua-
sion, all the major social media platforms and IAMAI
came together and mutually devised this “Voluntary
platforms are misused for Code of Ethics” for the General Elections 2019. This
propaganda and this starts came into immediate effect from the day it was pre-
sented to the Commission on 20th March 2019. Dur-
way before the elections ing the election period, social media platforms took
action on 909 violation cases reported by the ECI.
The highlighted features of the “Voluntary Code of
are announced Ethics” are (i) Social Media platforms will voluntarily
undertake information, education and communica-
tion campaigns to build awareness including electoral
shivam shankar singh laws and other related instructions. (ii) Social Media
Data Analyst and Campaign platforms have created a high priority dedicated
grievance redressal channel for taking expeditious
Consultant action on the cases reported by the ECI. (iii) Social Me-
dia Platforms and ECI have developed a notification
mechanism by this ECI can notify the relevant plat-
forms of potential violations of Section 126 of the R.P.
Act, 1951 and other electoral laws. (iv) Platforms will
ensure that all political advertisements on their plat-
forms are pre-certified from the Media Certification
and Monitoring Committees as per the directions of
Hon’ble Supreme Court. (v) Participating platforms
are committed to facilitating transparency in paid
political advertisements, including utilising their pre-
existing labels and disclosure technology for such
advertisements.
This malice is not confined only to Haryana. Even
in Maharashtra, which is going to polls, has seen such
practices being used in the election campaigns. A
seizure of 4 crore cash in Mumbai is a clear indica-
not just social media tor of how funds are being manipulated during elec-
tions. In a press conference on 1st October by The
platforms but the mobile Directorate General of Income Tax (Investigation)
(Investigation) Maharashtra, it was brought to the
apps are misused to public’s notice, the black money being circulated since
the declaration of Maharashtra Assembly Elections.
influence voters According to the press briefing by DGIT (Investiga-
tion) in Mumbai, it was informed that illegal cash
worth 4 crore had been seized by the Department,
ankit lal since the declaration of Model Code of Conduct by the
Election Commission of India, on September 21, 2019.
Elaborating on the steps taken by the Department,
AAP Social Media and IT Strategist the DG informed the media that the Department is
working in close coordination with several law en-

tehelka / 31 october 2019 14 www.tehelka.com