By The Pulseline News Desk
Sri Lanka’s Election Commission has warned that the growing influence of social media and artificial intelligence (AI) on voter behaviour could develop into a serious threat to the country’s electoral process, following findings that online political communication played a significant role in the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections and continued to be evident during the 2025 Local Government elections.
Additional Commissioner of Elections (Legal) Chinthaka Kularatne has said the situation could reach dangerous levels in the future, highlighting the need for stronger measures to address the growing impact of digital platforms on electoral communication.
The Commission has cited research conducted by Democracy Reporting International and Factum, which had examined the role of political influencers and online content during Sri Lanka’s recent elections.
The findings have raised concerns about the ability of political influencers, misleading online content and AI-generated material to shape public opinion, particularly during periods when election campaigning is legally restricted.
Political influencers remain active during election silence
The research has found that political influencers continued to play a significant role in electoral communication during the 2024 Parliamentary election, including after the legally mandated election silence period began.
Although overall influencer activity has declined somewhat following the start of the silence period compared with the 2024 Presidential election, political communication through online platforms has remained largely unaffected during the Parliamentary election.
The findings have also shown that election-related content had become relatively more prominent in influencer output during the silence period.
While election-related material accounted for 39% of influencer output during the broader monitoring period, that proportion had increased to 46.8% during the electoral silence period.
This suggests that restrictions on formal election campaigning did not necessarily translate into a corresponding reduction in election-related communication on social media.
The research has further revealed a significant disparity in the frequency with which political parties were mentioned by the influencers monitored.
The National People’s Power (NPP) had received 715 mentions during the monitoring period, substantially exceeding the combined total for the other three major political parties included in the study.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) had received 177 mentions, while the United National Party (UNP) had received 125 and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) 116.
The NPP’s prominence had continued during the election silence period, accounting for 53 of the 100 political party mentions identified during that period.
The researchers have concluded that political influencers remained an important component of Sri Lanka’s online electoral communication, even when formal campaigning was restricted.
However, the frequency of mentions alone does not establish whether the coverage was favourable or unfavourable towards a particular party, nor does it demonstrate that online content directly changed voting decisions.
Election Commission plans nine interventions
In response to these developments, the Election Commission has prepared an operational matrix comprising nine subprojects aimed at addressing the challenges posed by social media and AI during elections.
The proposed interventions include legal and policy reforms, a rapid-response mechanism and a system for removing problematic online content.
Other measures include voter awareness and education campaigns, an AI-based content detection system, and a single-source-of-truth website intended to provide reliable election-related information.
The Commission has also planned to develop a code-of-conduct framework, establish a national social media monitoring network, create a fact-checking consortium and modernise media guidelines.
The proposed measures indicate an effort to move beyond conventional election monitoring and address the increasingly complex digital environment in which political campaigns are conducted.
The Commission has also begun discussions with social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, on preventing the spread of fake posts, particularly during election periods.
However, the effectiveness of such interventions will depend on their implementation, the responsiveness of digital platforms and the ability to distinguish demonstrably false information from legitimate political debate.
Any content-removal mechanism will also need to account for freedom of expression and avoid being used to suppress lawful political criticism.
AI adds another layer of concern
The growing use of AI presents additional challenges for election authorities, as digitally manipulated images, videos and audio recordings can potentially make fabricated political content appear authentic.
Such material can circulate rapidly through social media networks, making it difficult for voters to establish the accuracy of claims before they influence public discussion.
The risks are particularly significant during election periods, when political messages can spread quickly and misleading claims may be difficult to correct before voters go to the polls.
Sri Lanka’s experience with online political influencers demonstrates that digital platforms have become an important part of electoral communication. The challenge for election authorities is to ensure that voters have access to reliable information without unnecessarily restricting legitimate political expression.
The Election Commission’s proposed AI-based detection system and fact-checking consortium could form part of that response, although their practical impact will depend on the resources available and the speed with which misleading content can be identified and addressed.
Political parties lose public confidence amid registration surge
The concerns over digital political communication come amid indications that public confidence in political parties has weakened.
However, Election Commission Chairman R. M. A. L. Rathnayake has revealed that 41 new political parties had applied for registration by January this year.
He has said the new political parties would be recognised by the end of the year.
Sri Lanka currently has 84 registered political parties, of which 27 are considered inactive.
The figures present a contrasting picture: while concerns have been raised about declining public confidence in established political parties, interest in registering new political organisations remains evident.
Nevertheless, applications for registration do not necessarily indicate growing public support for those organisations, just as the number of registered parties does not establish the level of public confidence in the political system.
The challenge for the Election Commission is therefore twofold: maintaining the integrity of the electoral process while ensuring that voters can make informed decisions in an increasingly crowded and digitally driven political environment.
With social media and AI expected to play an increasingly prominent role in political communication, the Commission’s proposed reforms could become an important test of Sri Lanka’s ability to protect electoral integrity while preserving democratic freedoms.
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