The Central Elections Commission (CEC) announced today, Sunday, launching “The Coalition for Fact-Checking and Digital Rights”. A distinguished step aiming at enhancing the integrity of the digital electoral environment, while fortifying the Palestinian online space against risks of misinformation and violations related to electoral content.
The coalition comprises of the Palestinian Observatory for Fact-Checking and Media Literacy “Tahaqaq” and “Tayqan” Platform, in addition to the digital rights organizations “7amleh Center” and “Sada Socail”, as part of an independent collaborative professional framework that guarantees clear roles and separation of responsibilities, while be grounded in standards of transparency and editorial and technical independence.
The coalition’s formation is a necessity in light of the challenges the digital environments witness during elections, and the accompanying spread of misleading content, hatred speech, and issues related to paid political ads and relevant digital platforms’ policies.
The coalition’s work is founded on a path of complementarity that combines combating misinformation during elections through monitoring and disproving misinformation and disinformation that may affect voters’ will or the integrity of the electoral process, while safeguarding digital rights by documenting potential violations and following-up cases of restricting content or deleting electoral content, and combating hatred speech and incitement. On the other hand, it aims to enhance advertising transparency by tracking policies for political advertising and paid content on digital platforms, confirming its adherence to the legal and ethical standards regulating the electoral process.
Moreover, the cooperation framework dedicates a hot line for prompt coordination between the CEC and partner organizations to follow up on any urgencies, conduct joint awareness campaigns to enhance fact-checking skills among the public. In addition, the coalition will issue a final detail report on digital indicators and trends during the Nominations, Electoral Campaigning and Polling stages of the electoral process, while providing recommendations for future improvements.
The CEC emphasized that the coalition reflects adherence of all members to the independence of professional work far from any political or factional influences, in a way that enhances public trust in the electoral process in its digital dimension. Moreover, the CEC praised the role of partner organization in safeguarding and protecting the Palestinian digital space, enhancing the integrity of its content, while consolidating the standards of responsibility and professionalism.
In conclusion, the CEC invited citizens and media to rise to their digital responsibilities, verify electoral information before circulating it, rely on official sources and professional fact-checking platforms, and avoid any untrusted content. Furthermore, the CEC emphasized the significance of reporting any cases of misinformation or digital violations using the dedicated channels at the CEC and partner platforms, in a way that enhances the integrity of the electoral process and safeguards public trust. Meanwhile, it invited everyone to keep up with the awareness materials and guidelines issued by members of the coalition throughout the various stages of elections, reaffirming that protecting the electoral environment is a joint national responsibility that requires societal awareness and collective collaboration and cooperation.
The CEC regards this cooperation as a sustainable model to be built upon in the future to protect the digital space linked to the democratic practice in Palestine, and the consolidation of a culture of accountability and transparency in the electoral environment.