Listen to the article
Fake News on Social Media Emerges as Major Challenge to Electoral Integrity
As Bihar prepares for its 2025 Assembly elections, concerns about misinformation on social media platforms have taken center stage in discussions about electoral integrity. The upcoming polls will be the first state elections to benefit from the Election Commission’s recently launched “Myth vs Reality Register,” created to combat false information during election periods.
The register, introduced on April 2, 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, serves as a repository of fact-checks addressing frequently circulated misinformation. However, experts acknowledge that monitoring and correcting false information across the vast digital landscape remains a significant challenge despite these efforts.
The Bihar Assembly elections of 2020 provided a glimpse into this new reality. Conducted as India emerged from the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, the election saw an unprecedented shift to online campaigning due to health restrictions on physical gatherings. While digital platforms offered crucial connectivity during this period, they simultaneously opened the door to sophisticated misinformation campaigns designed to influence voter behavior.
“Whether in India, the UK, or the United States, where social media is extensively used to reach out to a certain section of voters, you will find such misinformation and disinformation,” explains Dr. Sambit Pal, In-Charge Director at the International School of Broadcasting and Journalism at MIT Art, Design and Technology University in Pune.
The Electoral Commission has been actively addressing these issues. In August 2024, the Commission had to publicly dismiss false claims circulating on social media that it had removed e-voter rolls from its website, clarifying that electoral rolls for all 36 states and Union Territories remained accessible through its official portal.
More recently, on October 24, the Commission issued specific guidelines regarding AI-generated content in campaign materials ahead of the Bihar elections, recognizing the evolving nature of technological challenges to electoral integrity.
The battle against election misinformation is supported by academic research highlighting the scope of the problem. A landmark study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that false information spreads significantly faster and wider than factual news online. Their analysis of approximately 126,000 news cascades on Twitter (now X) between 2006 and 2017 revealed that posts containing falsehoods were 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than accurate information.
The MIT study, published in the journal Science, relied on assessments from six independent fact-checking organizations and found that misinformation was particularly prevalent in political content. The researchers concluded that human behavior, rather than automated bots, was primarily responsible for the rapid spread of fake news.
Dr. Pal, who also works with the India Training Network of Google News Initiative conducting workshops on fact-checking, notes that misinformation has become deeply embedded in political communication: “Fake news has become an integral part of political communication everywhere. In India, social media has been used aggressively by political parties with dedicated IT departments to microtarget voters and change the narrative.”
The challenge of maintaining electoral integrity now extends beyond traditional concerns about money and muscle power to include sophisticated digital manipulation. As Bihar approaches its 2025 elections, the effectiveness of the Election Commission’s efforts to counter misinformation will be closely watched as a potential model for future electoral exercises in India’s digital age.
The Commission’s initiatives represent an evolving response to what has quickly become one of the most significant challenges to democratic processes globally – ensuring voters can make choices based on accurate information in an era where falsehoods can spread instantaneously across digital platforms.
Verify This Yourself
Use these professional tools to fact-check and investigate claims independently
Reverse Image Search
Check if this image has been used elsewhere or in different contexts
Ask Our AI About This Claim
Get instant answers with web-powered AI analysis
Related Fact-Checks
See what other fact-checkers have said about similar claims
Want More Verification Tools?
Access our full suite of professional disinformation monitoring and investigation tools
9 Comments
This is a complex issue without easy solutions. Fact-checking alone may not be enough, as bad actors continue to find new ways to spread falsehoods. Strengthening media literacy and accountability for social media companies should be part of the response.
The proliferation of fake news on social media is undoubtedly a threat to democratic processes. While the Myth vs Reality Register is a positive step, more comprehensive solutions are needed to safeguard electoral integrity in the digital age.
The shift to digital campaigning during the pandemic has certainly exacerbated the challenge of combating misinformation. Balancing free speech with the need for electoral integrity will require innovative and multifaceted approaches.
Interesting to see how the Election Commission is trying to get ahead of this issue with the Myth vs Reality Register. Proactive fact-checking could be helpful, but will likely need to be coupled with media literacy efforts to empower voters.
Absolutely. Empowering voters to think critically about online content is crucial. Collaborative efforts between election officials, tech platforms, and civil society groups will be key to addressing this complex challenge.
This is a concerning issue that requires a multifaceted approach. In addition to fact-checking initiatives, greater transparency and accountability for social media platforms could help mitigate the spread of misinformation. Protecting democratic institutions is paramount.
The rise of misinformation is a worrying trend that undermines public trust. While the Election Commission’s fact-checking register is a step in the right direction, more needs to be done to empower voters to discern truth from fiction online.
Agreed. Perhaps digital literacy campaigns could help educate the public on identifying and reporting misinformation. Collaborative efforts between tech platforms, election officials, and civil society will be crucial.
Concerning to see how rapidly fake news can spread on social media, especially around elections. Fact-checking efforts are important, but the scale of the challenge is daunting. Curious to hear what other safeguards could be implemented to protect electoral integrity.