Norms and Standards

Center for Media Research – Nepal (CMR Nepal) is an autonomous, research and policy-oriented, not-for-profit non-governmental policy think tank registered with Nepal Government and Social Welfare Council  and is based in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal.

CMR-Nepal’s main focus is to enhance the knowledge content of policy making and media development by conducting researches aimed at informing Nepal’s policymakers and media stakeholders.

Within the disinformation and memory studies direction, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) team is developing tools in several ways. Firstly, IDFI research historical roots and disinformation narratives that are weaponized in contemporary times. Secondly, IDFI develops academic courses that are offered to the students in schools of media and social sciences, and to representatives of CSOs and civil servants.

This Code of Conduct was published to address the issues of election transparency and disinformation in the digital sphere. This code requires transparency regarding the sender, costs, and reach of advertisements during the election campaign. It also urges political parties to avoid posting misleading messages or accept foreign funding for advertising. 

Nepal’s Election Commission published their electoral code of conduct in 2015, which established standards and regulations for various institutions, persons, bodies and authorities. The code includes language for the mass media in preventing the publication, broadcast, or dissemination of “baseless information in favor of or against candidate or political party on electronically used social networks such as S.M.S., Facebook, Twitter and Viber”. Clauses such as these work to ban deliberate sharing of fake news during Nepal’s election period. 

The purpose of the “Ethical Principles of Candidates of 28 October 2018 Presidential Elections” was to establish guidelines for presidential candidates during their election campaigns. The Central Election Commission and candidates agreed to broad disinformation guidance through the clauses such as:

• “abstain from the dissemination of false information with prior knowledge”
• “refuse to use any hate speech or statements that involved xenophobia or intimidation.” 

A global call to action to raise awareness to stop violence against women in politics.

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The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) brings together the technology industry, government, civil society, and academia to foster collaboration and information-sharing to counter terrorist and violent extremist activity online.

GIFCT’s strategic planning and programming centers on three pillars:

South Africa’s “Code of Conduct: Measures to Address Disinformation Intended to Cause Harm During the Election Period” (in draft form as of July 2020) is aimed at “every registered party and every candidate” with additional obligations under the code for how those parties and candidates must take appropriate recourse against any member, representative or supporter of that party or candidate who behaves in violation of the code. The code is drawn narrowly to limit its application to the electoral period and ground it firmly in the broader legal and regulatory framework in South Africa.

Prior to 2019 elections, the Election Commission of India was able to convene representatives from top social media companies for a two-day brainstorming session on approaches to problematic social media content in elections. Technology and social media companies then signed on to a voluntary Code of Ethics that outlined the nature of collaboration between the EMB and the companies.

The roundtable highlights the current state of social media used by political actors ahead of the elections, seeking to understand and foresight how social media will impact the political campaign, and how to better protect the integrity of the campaign.

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