Election security: ‘The important thing for us is to retain the integrity of the electoral process’

Art O'Leary says the Electoral Commission is preparing to protect Irish elections from both disinformation and misinformation

Electoral Commission CEO Art O’Leary: ‘The implications for social media companies [if they fail to act on disinformation] aren’t good. To be accused after the event of having impacted on the outcome of an election is huge.’ Picture: Moya Nolan

In a recent election in Germany, posts circulated on social media that people voting for the first time could “win a prize” if they wrote their name on the ballot paper.

The post was shared so much that German’s federal returning officer took the step of addressing it on the disinformation page of his office’s website. He pointed out that such votes would be invalid in order to protect the secrecy of the ballot.