Local elections: Taskforce formed to regulate social media

KATHMANDU: APRIL. 11 – The Election Commission has formed a task force to regulate social media. A task force has been formed to regulate the activities of social media and recommend action for the local level election 079.

Surya Prasad Aryal, the commission’s assistant spokesperson, announced that a meeting of commission officials formed a ‘Digital Media and Social Network Monitoring Task Force.’ According to him, the task force will be active from the date the code of conduct is implemented until the election results are announced. The task force has been tasked with voter education as well as monitoring and recommending action on social media.

The task force of seven people will be led by the head of the Commission’s Information Technology Branch. The task force consists of seven experts, including four experts, a representative from Nepal Police’s Cyber Bureau, and an engineer from the Commission’s Information Technology Branch. The task force is currently developing a monitoring system.

The task force will keep track of the accounts used by candidates, political parties, members of the general public, employees, and organizations where the code of conduct will be implemented. If a violation is discovered during the monitoring, the concerned body is responsible for writing to the concerned body for action or referring the matter to the commission if it is of a complex nature.

The election code of conduct stipulates that social media users should be sensitive about election-related issues. The commission has said that the election will be considered as a violation and punishment will be given according to the violation of social media.