Twitter Launches New Initiatives to Tackle Misinformation Ahead of Assembly Elections in India

Twitter on Monday announced a series of initiatives that it says focuses on encouraging informed healthy conversations between candidates, political parties, citizens, media, and society. The initiatives include an information search prompt with the Election Commission of India and state election commissions to make it easier for users to find credible information about candidate lists, voting dates, polling booths, and EVM voter registration among other election-related topics.

West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry are scheduled to go to polls in 2021.

The second initiative is a custom emoji to encourage participation to stimulate participation in election-related discussions and is available now until May 10. Next is a series of pre-bunks and de-bunks to tackle election-related misinformation on Twitter and will appear on people's home timelines and in Search, including information about how to register to vote and details on EVMs and VVPATs. Additionally, the service will focus on de-bunking critical issues as they arise with a curated Twitter Moment.

Another initiative is a youth discussion series titled #DemocracyAdda aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among young Indians for upcoming assembly elections in 2021.

All of these will be activated in six languages — English, Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Assamese, and Malayalam in order to cater to audiences across India.

Additionally, to put a spotlight on women in Indian politics, the service will be bringing back #HerPoliticalJourney, a video series where women political leaders talk about their personal stories with leading women news journalists.

"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.

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