Parties urged to sign IEC code as AI and big data reshape election fight
The code of conduct is aimed at keeping campaigning lawful and the process credible as new campaign tools raise fresh risks.
Political parties are being urged to sign the Electoral Commission’s code of conduct and to campaign within the law, with the commission’s focus falling on how big data and artificial intelligence are being used in elections.
The purpose of the code is to create conditions conducive to free and fair elections, according to eNCA (YouTube), which broadcast the material. Parties are urged through the code to work with one another and to accept that they differ in ideology and in the way they do things, while staying inside the law so that nothing interferes with or compromises the integrity of the process.
The concern about technology is specific. Big data and artificial intelligence have recently played a role that can be detrimental to how an electoral democracy is managed. The aim is to deal with those negative effects early, so that the management of elections does not descend into confusion and so that parties do not circulate information that is not true or that is inconsistent with the values of the Constitution.
The code therefore asks parties to do two things at once: compete, and accept that they are competing. That is the practical test of the document. A party that signs it is undertaking to keep its differences with its rivals inside the law rather than outside it.
The technology question is harder to police than a poster or a rally. False material can now be produced and distributed at a scale and speed that no previous campaign season had to manage, and the commission’s stated position is that the risk has to be dealt with before it takes hold rather than after.
Nothing in the broadcast names a party, a platform or an individual as having spread false information. The concern is put as a general one about the tools now available to campaigns and about the consequences for how the election is run.
Source: eNCA (YouTube), Political parties to sign IEC code of conduct
