TikTok shares strategy to maintain election integrity in Pakistan

Social media platform TikTok has issued guidelines to deal with hate speech, fake content and misinformation in connection with the general elections of Pakistan to be held on February 8.

Access to and use of the Internet and social media platforms has undoubtedly increased in Pakistan over the past few years, which could play a key role in shaping public opinion ahead of the February 8 general elections.

Political parties in the country are using various social media platforms to expand their reach and promote their ideologies, leading to the spread of hate speech, fake content and misinformation.

To address these concerns and ensure the transparency of elections, Tik Tok has released its strategy.

According to TikTok, required instructions have been issued to all users which are available in both English and Urdu languages.

According to TikTok, misinformation and fake news can affect various elections around the world, therefore the social media platform has ensured that all content containing misleading information, including voter registration, candidate eligibility, ballot counting and election results included will be removed.

In addition, TikTok strictly prohibits content that threatens voters, influences the voting process, incites violence against political party workers.

In order to prevent violence, hatred and inflammatory speech and ideas, users will be unable to access the live streaming facility while all accounts found guilty of spreading false information related to the elections will be blocked.

In this regard, TikTok is trying to ensure the safety of users by employing more than 40,000 personnel and Artificial Intelligence (AI), while working with local and regional fact-checkers to combat fake information and removing false content related to elections.

A key element of the strategy adopted by TikTok is the launch of Pakistan Election Center (PEC) on the platform, which is available in both English and Urdu languages. The center will direct users to authentic election-related information, including voting procedures and locations.

Additionally, the platform has implemented policies against political advertising. It has separate rules for accounts belonging to the government, politicians or political parties.

It is pertinent to note that earlier on Wednesday, political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had used the platform of TikTok to conduct their rally online as it has not been allowed for conducting physical rallies. PTI had organized two online meetings and an international online convention in which the speech of PTI founder Imran Khan, created by artificial intelligence (AI), was also broadcast.