EC plans to curb AI, social media misuse before polls

The current commission, headed by AMM Nasir Uddin, believes the spread of misinformation and disinformation on social media could hamper a congenial electoral environment ahead of the 13th parliamentary election in this era of artificial intelligence and digital platforms.

Taking the issue seriously, the EC has already incorporated several provisions in the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates in Parliamentary Election Rule 2025 to check the misuse of AI and social media.

Besides, the commission has planned to form a central cell or committee to effectively control AI- and social media-related abuses.

“We’ll form a committee to effectively control the abuses of AI and social media. But it may be a central cell or an effective committee. We’ve yet to define its name,” EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed told UNB on Wednesday.

Alongside the central committee, the Commission may also set up committees at district or upazila level to contain such abuses, if necessary.

In the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates in Parliamentary Election Rule 2025 finalized on September 4, the EC imposed a ban on the misuse of AI and social media, along with restrictions on drones and quadcopters in election campaigns.

According to the clause 16 of the code of conduct, a candidate or his election agent or any other persons on his behalf can carry out election campaign on social media, but the name and account ID, e-mail ID and other identifying information of a candidate or his election agent or party related social media must be submitted to the Returning Officer before the commencement of the campaign.

In the case of social media campaigns, Artificial Intelligence (AI) cannot be used for malicious purposes in any election-related matter, including campaigning.

As per the clause, all types of harmful content, including hate speech, misinformation, disfiguring someone's face and fabricated election-related information, shall not be created and disseminated as well as hate speech, personal attacks, or inflammatory language targeting opponents, women, minorities, or any other group of people shall not be used in the social media.

The clause also states that religious or ethnic sentiments must not be exploited for electoral gain; and the authenticity of all election-related content must be verified before publication or sharing on social media.

It further states that no political party, candidate, or supporter shall create, publish, circulate or share any false, misleading, biased, hateful, obscene, offensive or defamatory content on social media or any other medium, generally or by editing or by means of Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the intention of misleading voters or of defaming the character or reputation of any candidate or person, regardless of gender.

The maximum punishment for violating this code is six months’ imprisonment, or a fine of Tk 150,000 or both.

Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin on several occasions stressed that the misuse of AI and social media poses a major challenge ahead of the next national election.

"With the misuse of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is possible to circulate content using my exact image and voice. In this election, such abuse of AI has emerged as a major challenge for us. We are trying to address it," he said at a function in Khulna on July 26 last.

He said AI can generate a massive volume of misinformation and disinformation in some cases, which disrupt the election campaigns completely. This is a modern threat of the digital era, which is more dangerous than weapons, he added.

In his latest remarks on September 28, the CEC reiterated that the Commission has been working seriously to fight the abuse of AI, misinformation and disinformation on social media during the upcoming national election.

“We’ve been seriously working on this issue for a long time. InshAllah, we’ll develop a central communication cell. We’re fully aware of the consequences of abuse of social media and AI,” he said.

Senior election officers at a conference at Nirbachan Bhaban on September 27 last also raised the issue saying that they must fight the abuse of AI and social media to ensure a congenial atmosphere in the upcoming election, reports UNB.