The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission Prof Mahmood Yakubu, has told the International Foundation for Electoral System and the National Endowment for Democracy his commission is partnering a Nigerian group of publishers to stem the tide of fake news.
The INEC boss, while speaking at the event organised by the two bodies in Washington on Tuesday, said though social media is a good force, he regretted that it is also being used as tool for spread of fake news.
“The social media has been a force for good. The Commission does not support censorship. We believe that the antidote to fake news is greater transparency and openness and we have been demonstrating greater transparency and openness.” He said
He added that The social media plays a very important role in voter education and deepening democracy warning it also has the potential of “skewing the narrative with the wrong information that impugn the integrity of officials or seek to delegitimize the Commission and the process either before, during or after the elections.”
He said fake news could be used to send out wrong election results of which could trigger violence.
He said, “Publication of fake election results is a potential trigger for violence. What we have done is to continue to deepen our cooperation and relationship particularly with the organized social media.”
He told the gathering that INEC is working with a group in Nigeria that has developed an in-house mechanism for dealing with its members who engage in unethical practices.
He said, “In Nigeria, there is a forum called the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP). They have over 80 members and only last week, I was in Lagos and engaged with them. We’ll continue to engage with them. But the problem is not always with the organised online platforms, but with the lone rangers or groups using platforms that complicate matters for everyone.”
Mahmood had delivered the keynote address of the group at its annual conference held in Lagos.
The INEC boss had given details of what his commission has been doing in preparation for the 2023 elections.