TechPression

Tag: Elections

  • South Africa’s regulator broadens election investigation to include Google and X

    South Africa’s regulator broadens election investigation to include Google and X

    South Africa’s Information Regulator is including Google and Elon Musk’s X in the recent general election probe initially involving Meta Platforms. 

    Pansy Tlakula, the chairperson of the regulator confirmed that the three companies refused to abide by requests for information made in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia).

    She revealed that the companies refused on the assumption that Paia does not apply to them despite operating in the country. 

    “The complainant has requested access to the records relating to the classification of elections, risk assessments concerning South Africa’s electoral integrity and the application of global policies to local contexts within these three entities. The Regulator has accepted these complaints, and all three complaints are currently under investigation.”

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    Meta platforms and Paia compliance

    The Campaign for Free Expression (CFE), an advocacy group for free expression, requested that meta platforms comply with the Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia). As a result, an inquiry into meta platforms was started.

    The CFE has requested information about Meta’s election management measures to assure openness and assess whether Meta successfully handled election-related risks.

    While Google is rumoured to have agreed to meet with the regulator to resolve the concerns, Meta and X have yet to make a comparable promise. Meanwhile, Meta declined the request, claiming it is not subject to South African law because it is a US-based corporation.

    The watchdog said that settlement is the preferred method of resolving such disputes, although conciliation is also an alternative. A settlement is a direct agreement between the accused party and the regulator. However, if a resolution is impossible, the regulator will help arrange a mediation procedure involving both parties.

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    WhatsApp privacy policy investigation

    This development is not new in South Africa. In January 2021, the agency also inquired whether WhatsApp’s updated privacy statement conformed with the 2013 Protection of Personal Information Act.

    After conducting the inquiry, the Regulator discovered that WhatsApp applied different privacy rules and terms of service to users in Europe than in other regions, including South Africa.

    It then sent an enforcement notice, rejecting WhatsApp’s claim that Paia does not apply to it since it is a social media network and ordering it to update its privacy policy by all of Popia’s requirements.

  • IEBC Records 200 hacking Attempts, During Kenya Elections

    IEBC Records 200 hacking Attempts, During Kenya Elections

    In the midst of the ongoing Kenya general elections, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) has announced that there were around 200 attempts made to breach the system between Thursday, 4:00 pm and Friday, 8:00 am.

    This was affirmed by an insider that reported on the happenings on Friday. 

    However, IEBC has given the Kenyan people its word that the information technology system they use to transmit election results is secure.

    “Nothing has happened. We anticipated that there would be people who would try to hack, but we are monitoring the systems and all are safe, “he said.

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    Kenyan Election Hacking Attempts 

    According to The Star, a representative of one of the major parties made an effort to get into the system when they were at the National Tallying Centre in Bomas. In the latter part of the same day, officers from the IEBC prevented a person who was suspected of being a party agent from seizing and fleeing with an IEBC device.

    Nation Africa also said that two different media organizations had their systems hacked, with one having their data tampered with and the other having their systems attacked.

    On Friday, false information was spread that the systems had been hacked.

    While speaking to the media at the Bomas, CEO Hussein Marjan said they had taken precautions to secure the safety of the results forms and the data created from them.

    Marjan was responding to rumours that some people had tried to break into the system to put in an algorithm that would change the results.

    “Nothing like that has happened. We anticipated people would try to infiltrate the system and put safeguards in place. They know people are not sleeping; they want to ensure our systems are down,” he said.

    “We assure the whole country that our systems are secure.” If in doubt, talk to us to scale up the security mechanism. “

    Election Vote Counting Procedure

    The Independent Electoral Boundaries Commission (IEBC) gave media groups and civil society organizations permission earlier this year to set up a competing counting centre. This centre will collect and tabulate the results of the elections that will take place in August.

    According to Wafula Chebukati, the Chairperson of the IEBC, the decision was made to increase the election’s transparency.

    “The media houses, political parties and candidates are free to have their own parallel tally,” he said after meeting media stakeholders in Nairobi.

    Still, Chebukati said again that the law says that the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) will be the one to announce the winner of the close election.

    “You can count the results, but, of course, do not declare them.” “That one you leave to me,” he said.

    The Nation reports that it took IEBC a long time to be ready for the count, which sparked various allegations and criticisms.

    There are a lot of other news organizations that are experiencing delayed tally as well, since they do not have the manpower to keep up with the pace that the IEBC is working at.

    People have remarked that the slow pace of tally was because of a lack of capacity due to poor planning and unpreparedness or an inability to manage what are essentially rudimentary processes.

    Coding Becomes School Subject in Kenya

    Observations

    The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) is supposed to announce the official results of Kenya’s presidential elections tomorrow, August 16. This is how the rules for Kenyan elections work. While the IEBC is tallying the votes, it’s possible that quarrels may be going on at Bomas until then. After many loud fights between opposition parties caused delays and raised suspicions of cheating at the counting centre, IEBC commissioner Abdi Guliye told politicians and anyone else who didn’t have a remarkable job to leave the centre.

  • Meta To Verify ads Against Kenya Election

    Meta To Verify ads Against Kenya Election

    As Kenya General election approaches which has been scheduled to hold on 9th of August, 2022. The social media giant Meta has offered tools and resources that will provide more information on political advertising across its various platforms ahead of the general elections.

    According to META blog post, it says “we take a look at best practices to help you launch your campaign, reach and engage voters and get out the vote leading up to election day on 9th August 2022.”

    What does the META tools and resources do?

    It is intended that the tools and resources increase transparency in political advertising by allowing people to understand who is behind the political advertisements they see on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, while also providing political advertisers with critical resources to reach and engage their supporters and potential voters throughout the election period.

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    “Advertisers who want to run ads about social issues, elections or politics must have their ad run by a person who has confirmed their identity and is authorized as being located in Kenya. They also must place a “Paid for by” disclaimer on their ad, which helps provide more transparency for people who see the ad.”

    What Advertisers should know About Meta Plans

    Meta has stated that it will verify advertisers who wish to run political advertisements in Kenya, and that they will be required to provide proof that they are residents of Kenya.
    Additionally, the company will conduct additional checks to ensure that advertisers are adhering to the company’s policies, and two-factor authentication must be enabled. All political advertisements in Kenya during the election period will be labeled with the phrase “Paid for by” so that the public is aware of who is funding the advertisements.

    Furthermore, users will have greater control over the types of advertisements that appear in their news feeds. It is possible for them to opt-out of seeing election-related advertisements if they so desire, and if they do so, they will no longer see advertisements that contain the disclaimer “Paid for by.”

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    Meta will also post all of Kenya’s political advertisements on their Ads Library so that everyone can see what ads are running, what information about the elections is available, and how much money has been spent on political advertisements. They will be kept in the library for a period of seven years.

    Mercy Ndegw, Meta Public Policy Director East and Horn of Africa, affirmed “Meta has continued to invest in technology towards election integrity. We believe political discussion and debate should be transparent to every voter, which is why over the past few years we’ve introduced a number of tools that provide more information about political ads on Facebook and Instagram,”