The Election Commission will monitor the social media round the clock to curb rumours and propaganda ahead of the general election.

“The administration has already started 24-hour monitoring of the social media and we are starting from tomorrow (Monday, Dec 3). A monitoring team comprising of IT officials will be formed,” its Secretary Helaluddin Ahmed told the media on Sunday (Dec 2) after a meeting with representatives of the telecoms regulators.

He said the Commission, as well as the administration, will initiate legal actions, in line with the Digital Security Act and other existing laws, against those behind propaganda in the social media.

“We have decided to stop the spread of rumours and fake news aiming to foil the polls,” said the EC official.

The decision came after a meeting with representatives from the telecoms regulator, mobile phone operators and law enforcers working on cyber crimes.

The Election Commission, however, says it’s not considering to include a ban on campaigning through the social media in the code of conduct.

“We, however, initially did consider a bar, but rolled back as it can’t be controlled by that,” Election Commissioner Kabita Khanam told Bangla Tribune earlier this month. “Rumours cannot be stopped but there’s law to tackle the issue,” she added.

According to EC officials, the Commission had held a meeting earlier with concerned authorities over the issue, when experts recommended that clamp down on social media will not be reasonable rather advised some kind of monitoring and controlling mechanism.