The Fijian Elections Office has warned the public to be very mindful of what they read about the 2018 election across all social media platforms as the agenda of those who post such information are usually biased.

Elections Supervisor Mohammed Saneem says false reports of election information published on social media should warn the public to be more aware of what is being circulated.

Saneem has sent a strong warning to all Fijians that electoral information published by outside sources must always be treated with caution.

“Because the integrity of the election is dependent on the information that is made available to members of the public and that information must be respectfully made available by all stakeholders in the most accurate manner.”

The Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Commission Director, Ashwin Raj is also appealing to the public to be voices of reason when using social media platforms.

“If there’s a prevalence of hate speech on the social media it’s important that people stand up to it and report it to the relevant authorities, report it to the human rights commission and report it to the police if there are people inciting violence on the social media on any prohibited grounds of discrimination in particularly if they’re appealing to race, religion and ethnicity so on and so forth, it’s a big NO.”

The Prime Minister earlier this week highlighted that with the election campaign picking up, the use of social media is concerning as many politicians will try and divide Fijians by instilling them with fear and mistrust.

He has again reiterated that Fijians cannot tolerate that old, hateful style of politics any longer.