Election monitoring has been accepted as one of the essential mechanisms for supporting free and fair elections (Birch & Van Ham, 2017). The literature on election monitoring has largely focused on the impact of international monitoring (Hyde, 2011; Hyde & Marinov, 2014; Kelley, 2012) and domestic monitoring (Asunka et al., 2019; Buzin et al., 2016; Enikolopov et al., 2013; Sjoberg, 2012) organisations on electoral integrity. These organisations engage in the monitoring of electoral integrity[1] by using methods such as monitoring campaigns, parallel vote tabulation and observing polling stations. However, these traditional methods are not equipped to detect computational propaganda and foreign influence via social media, as in the case of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections and the 2016 UK Brexit referendum.
With citizens’ increasing use of social media, combined with these security threats and the potential for strategic surprises (Bekkers et al., 2013, p. 335), traditional monitoring practices may no longer be sufficient to address emerging threats. As a result, governments have emerged as new actors in election observation, monitoring social media to ensure electoral integrity. Several countries, including Sweden, France and the Czech Republic, have monitored social media during elections (Schmuziger Goldzweig et al., 2019, pp. 15–16). Social media monitoring has been included in the EU Election Observation Missions’ duties, and the East StratCom Task Force has been focusing on activities that have been undertaken by Russia to disrupt elections (European External Action Service, 2021).
References
Asunka, J., Brierley, S., Golden, M., Kramon, E., & Ofosu, G. (2019). Electoral fraud or violence: The effect of observers on party manipulation strategies. British Journal of Political Science, 49(1), 129–151. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123416000491
Bekkers, V., Edwards, A., & de Kool, D. (2013). Social media monitoring: Responsive governance in the shadow of surveillance? Government Information Quarterly, 30(4), 335–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2013.05.024
Birch, S., & Van Ham, C. (2017). Getting away with foul play? The importance of formal and informal oversight institutions for electoral integrity. European Journal of Political Research, 56(3), 487–511. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12189
Buzin, A., Brondum, K., & Robertson, G. (2016). Election observer effects: A field experiment in the Russian Duma election of 2011. Electoral Studies, 44, 184–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2016.06.018
Enikolopov, R., Korovkin, V., Petrova, M., Sonin, K., & Zakharov, A. (2013). Field experiment estimate of electoral fraud in Russian parliamentary elections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(2), 448–452. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1206770110
European External Action Service. (2021, October 27). Questions and answers about the East StratCom Task Force. https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/questions-and-answers-about-east-stratcom-task-force_en#11263
Hyde, S. D. (2011). The Pseudo-Democrat’s Dilemma: Why Election Observation Became an International Role. Cornell University Press.
Hyde, S. D., & Marinov, N. (2014). Information and self-enforcing democracy: The role of international election observation. International Organization, 68(2), 329–359.
Kelley, J. G. (2012). Monitoring Democracy: When International Election Observation Works, and Why it Often Fails. Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.50-3510
Norris, P. (2013). The New Research Agenda Studying Electoral Integrity. Electoral Studies, 32(4), 563–575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2013.07.015
Schmuziger Goldzweig, R., Iskra Kirova, Lupion, B., Meyer-Resende, M., & Morgan, S. (2019). Social media monitoring during elections: Cases and best practice to inform electoral observation missions. Open Society Foundations. https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/publications/social-media-monitoring-during-elections-cases-and-best-practice-to-inform-electoral-observation-missions
Sjoberg, F. M. (2012). Making voters count: Evidence from field experiments about the efficacy of domestic election observation. Columbia University Harriman Institute Working Paper No. 1. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2133592
[1] The term electoral integrity is used in its broadest sense to refer to an attachment to international standards and global norms during the electoral period (Norris, 2013, p. 564).
Governments’ use of AI systems in social media monitoring during elections 