Owing to its reach, social media has gained political traction in recent times. Fake news, too, has been all-pervasive. Reverberations will be felt even after the polls. We need stricter social media monitoring

General elections in India are considered to be the world’s largest voting event wherein an estimated 900 million people vote from close to 10 lakh polling booths across the nation. While the media has always played a vital role in democracy, acting as a constant watchdog, the 2019 elections witnessed the power of social media in political mobilisation among citizens.

A glimpse of the social media political mobilisation was already seen in 2014. This year, social media has completely transformed the ‘game of politics.’ The idea of social media as a force-multiplier in politics gained wide acceptance with the rapid growth of digitally-empowered Indians — this influence also gained massive attention after the US presidential election. With the penetration of the internet and rise in smart phone usage in semi-urban and rural India, social media has acted like a messenger for political parties. It has helped them reach the people in an infinite manner and at the grass-root level.

Influence on youth: A recent report stated that 81 million young Indians will cast their vote for the first time. This segment is young, energetic and well aware — a cohort no political party can ignore. It is important to note that not just their numbers but their characteristics are equally significant. Hence, in the last one year, political parties have stepped up their game and used social media platforms to woo the youth.

In the last two months, the youth has been hopping from one social media platform to another like ‘tribes of internet,’ highlighting their views on and passion for their favored political parties. There have been compelling and highly influential posts by both parties as well as young Indians. This has catalysed the moulding of public opinion and sentiments.

Influencing through fake news: Information wars of an unprecedented nature and scale are witnessed during the elections wherein social media is bombarded with fake news from multiple sources. Circulation of fake news and negative messages has flooded all social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp among others. As per reports, 53 per cent of the respondents claimed to have received fake news on social media platforms.

Facebook and Whatsapp have topped the charts, making digital platforms a pain point for the Government and political parties as well. Approximately one in two Indians, as per reports, received fake news in the last 30 days. Many such information campaigns have been developed with the help of cyber armies with messages rooted into domestic divisions and prejudices.

In order to curb the misuse of social media during the polls, the Election Commission devised the guidelines for ‘Model Code of Conduct’, which summons all social media companies to use the platforms effectively and transparently. The social media ‘Model Code of Conduct’ engulfs high priority mechanism for general elections and aims at curbing misuse of information and fake messages.

Use by political parties: Leaders have been leveraging data analytics to reach out to voters. Data analytics are also used to gather insights and views of voters, which are segmented into their socio-economic status, issues, gender and so on. Based on the voters’ sentiments, customised messages and videos are being circulated on social media platforms to target group segments. Responses received in the form of re-tweets, comments and posts are further analysed to maintain the momentum. Informal conversations between online users have enabled parties to pick up positive narratives and helped them convert them into social media trends. IT teams of political parties have kept a check on browsing patterns in order to convey positive political messages. Parties are also creating narratives for location-specific rallies.

Post elections: The weaponisation of social media can further be magnified after the elections with the aim to mobilise the nation. In a lot of ways, the general election is serving as a battleground for people and political parties to decide on the winning party. The Government as well as technological companies need to be safe about the use of social media for vested interests and agenda mongers even after elections as the number of users is only increasing day by day.

(The writer is Group Chairman of a software and digital marketing company)