Social media users who bend the truth and spread political misinformation are the subject of a fresh crackdown.
The Australian Electoral Commission launched its disinformation register on Monday aimed at debunking the mistruths spread about the federal election process.
AEC boss Tom Rodgers said he had one message fxjmtzywor Australians: he’s “not messing around”.
“The Australian vote belongs to all Australians and there is freedom of political communication,” he said.
“However, if you spread incorrect information about the processes we run – deliberately or otherwise – we will correct you.”
The register is a searchable database of mistruths the AEC has identified.
Mr Rogers said they ranged from the “sophisticated to the ridiculous”.
Such examples include claims Australians would need to be vaccinated to vote and AEC workers erased pencil markings during the counting process.
“The message here is simple: The AEC will not tolerate the spread of misinformation or disinformation about our electoral system no matter the source,” Mr Rogers said.
The AEC said it had been referring misinformation about the election process to Facebook, Twitter, Google, Tiktok and Snapchat because it likely breached the social media platforms’ rules.
The AEC has significantly ramped up its engagement with users on social media over the past year.
In addition to replying to users who tag the AEC’s accounts, it now also jumps into conversations it’s not invited into to debunk myths from being further spread.
