The microblogging site Twitter has announced a number of initiatives to promote healthy dialogue between candidates, political parties, citizens, the media and the community in the wake of upcoming Assembly elections in five states. Twitter will provide comprehensive search options in local languages to share accurate and precise information and notifications of the Central Election Commission and State Election Commissions (@ECISVEEP). It offers complete data on candidates, election dates, polling booths and Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) registration.
The second initiative is custom emoji to increase the participation of people in the election discussions. It will be available until May 10. There are about 20 hashtags available for making it easier for people to find. Special emoji (# AssemblyElections2021) will be available for this purpose only.
Tweeted emoji can be activated in six languages. There will be pre-bunk and de-bunk to control the spread of fake election-related false news and misinformation. Twitter will take the initiative to prevent misleading information about how and where to vote by publishing a series of pre-bunk prompts across languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil and Bengali. Prompts appear in people’s home timelines and searches. It provides information on registering to vote, including details on EVMs and Voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPAT).
“Public conversation is critical during elections, and Twitter is where this unfolds. With digital penetration accelerating in India, more people now have access to credible, authoritative and timely information – crucial tools for exercising their civic rights,” said Payal Kamat, Manager of Public Policy and Government at Twitter India. “By leveraging the power of open internet, we are encouraging people across India to be a part of the assembly elections 2021 conversation,” she added.
In addition, a series of discussions on #DemocracyAdda in various languages will be organized among young voters to strengthen voter literacy and civic participation among the youth. The opportunity will be created in collaboration with Youth Ki Awaaz. There will also be live video sessions and tweet chats with young people, civil society groups and change-makers. Moreover, to strengthen the representation of women in Indian politics, a video series called #HerPoliticalJourney will be organized with the participation of women journalists and women political leaders. The news initiatives of twitter will be in six languages: English, Bengali, Assamese, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam. It mainly helps the residents of the states in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry.
