'E-war room' wipes 40 mudslinging posts

'E-war room' wipes 40 mudslinging posts

Poll watchdog offers cash for fraud intel

The Election Commission's self-styled 'e-war room' has picked off and deleted 40 internet posts it decided were illegal - with no details provided.
The Election Commission's self-styled 'e-war room' has picked off and deleted 40 internet posts it decided were illegal - with no details provided.

The Election Commission's (EC) "electronic war room" dealing with mudslinging targeted at election candidates on electronic platforms has so far ordered more than 40 posts deleted that were found to be in violation of the law.

EC deputy secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said Tuesday the EC has formed a committee which is responsible for monitoring election campaigning on electronic formats, a so-called e-war room, to protect poll candidates against mudslinging in the lead-up to the March 24 general election.

The committee has been looking out for messages and posts on social media which contain violent, offensive remarks, and hate speech in violation of the law and the EC's regulations on election campaigning.

He admitted it was not easy to trace people who post such illegal messages and have the posts immediately deleted because the EC has had to ask other agencies and administrators of the websites, some of which are based in foreign countries, to take down the illegal content.

The e-war room is a collaboration between staff in the EC's investigation bureau, who gather and send information on those offences to a panel at the EC's political affairs bureau, which proceeds to ask the companies that run the social media platforms to take the posts down, Mr Sawaeng said.

All censorship is secret, with the public locked out of details on deleted and blocked posts.

EC secretary-general Pol Col Jarungvith Phumma said complaints currently lodged with the EC mostly involve vandalism of election candidates' posters. He added that mudslinging against poll candidates tends to be shifting from traditional forms of election campaigning to social media. He said the EC is now better equipped to probe election law violation cases than in the past.

There is a law in place to provide witnesses with protection, and cash rewards will also be offered to those who come forward with information on vote-buying, Pol Col Jarungvith said.

EC investigators also have the authority to forward their findings on election law violation cases directly to prosecutors without having to first lodge a complaint with police, he added. He said the EC's investigation reports will provide the basis for the courts to consider issuing yellow and red cards against poll candidates involved in fraud.

If a winning candidate is later found guilty of poll fraud by the court, the poll result will be annulled and a poll re-run will be ordered by the court to be held within six months, while the offending candidate will be ordered by the court to foot the 10 million baht bill to hold the re-run, Pol Col Jarungvith said.

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