Social media's 'spoil the vote' campaign helped spread disinformation, report says

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Hope and Courage Collective said there was 'an online environment in which anti-migrant and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments were expressed as supposed defences of democracy or moral order'

A spoiled vote at the Presidential election found at Mallow GAA complex on the morning of counting. The groups said while discussing spoiling your vote is not a threat to election integrity, images showing explicit forms of hatred on spoiled ballots circulated online. File picture: Larry Cummins

The “spoil the vote” campaign on social media facilitated the spread of election disinformation, anti-migrant and anti-LGBTQ+ hate, while candidates faced a slew of personal attacks online during the presidential campaign, a new report has found.

An investigation from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Hope and Courage Collective said, while a legitimate democratic exercise, images of spoiled votes being shared online “allowed racist and far-right messaging to blend with broader narratives related to political disillusionment and legitimate civic protest”.

“The result was the emergence of an online environment in which anti-migrant and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments were expressed as supposed defences of democracy or moral order,” it said.

Last month, independent candidate Catherine Connolly won a resounding victory in the presidential election defeating Fine Gael’s Heather Humphreys and Fianna Fáil’s Jim Gavin, who exited the race prior to polling day.

During the campaign, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and Hope and Courage Collective said there were renewed threats to election integrity online as platforms failed to adhere to their obligations.

Social media disinformation

They analysed 172 instances of political misinformation and disinformation on X, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube in the six weeks running up to polling day.

They said candidates faced derogatory, unsubstantiated, and personal attacks throughout the campaign, including with AI content, with little proactive intervention from social media companies.

Ms Humphreys was subject to sectarian abuse while Ms Connolly appeared in fictitious news reports made with generative AI.

Claims around the private life of Jim Gavin were also shared widely on social media, which originated from a figure outside of Ireland. They were only removed from most platforms when his campaign team reported them and he spoke out against “malicious smears”.

Spoiled votes

Close to 13% of the total ballot, some 213,000 votes, were invalid. The groups said while discussing spoiling your vote is not a threat to election integrity, images showing explicit forms of hatred on spoiled ballots circulated online.

“This dynamic reflects a wider trend in Ireland and across Europe, where ‘moral’ or ‘patriotic’ grievances are used to normalise racism and hostility toward minority groups under the banner of protecting national or cultural ‘integrity’,” the report said.

Social media failures

It concluded that, as has been seen in previous elections, social media platforms are failing to meet their obligations when it comes to electoral integrity.

“The majority of the harmful narratives identified in this report gained traction because they were promoted through algorithmic systems designed to reward outrage and emotional intensity,” Hope and Courage Collective executive director Edel McGinley said.

“Ultimately, the findings of this report underline the need for stronger co-ordination between platforms and regulators in safeguarding electoral integrity.

“Implementation of measures such as the EU’s Democracy Shield, along with the activation of Part 5 of the Electoral Reform Act, would provide essential tools for countering manipulation and keeping Ireland’s elections free from manipulation and interference.”