Authorities plan to counter the menace of fake news and disinformation ahead of the election scheduled for May in partnership with popular platforms such as TikTok and Facebook, according to the Election Commission (EC).
The EC and TikTok will jointly set up an “election centre” to combat content that violates election rules, EC secretary-general Sawaeng Boonmee said on Friday. The centre will also be used to disseminate information and scrutinise misleading political content, he said.
TikTok will ban paid advertisements for political content ahead of the election, said Chanida Klyphun, the platform’s head of public policy in Thailand. An “election report” button will also be available on the platform for users to flag content to moderators, she added.
Officially the House has not yet been dissolved but most political parties have already kicked off pre-election campaigns, criss-crossing the country to address rallies and taking to social media to woo voters.
Candidates from more than 80 parties are expected to contest for a total of 500 seats, including 100 party-list positions to the House of Representatives.
“The cooperation reflects our commitment to disseminating correct information about the election that will help people decide to go out to vote,” Mr Sawaeng said at a briefing on Friday.
Thailand has about 52.3 million active social media users, representing about 72% of the country’s population, according to a report by We Are Social and Meltwater. Among the most popular platforms are Facebook, Line and TikTok.
The election commission has also sought cooperation from Facebook and Google, Mr Sawaeng said.
“We are focusing on social media because of its significant role in political campaigning,” he said. “We’re not too worried about political parties as they’re already quite careful, but the concern is more about their supporters.”
The election commission will also use its own election “war room” that was set up ahead of the 2019 elections to regulate online content that may violate campaigning rules, he said.