Accountability of Political Campaigns on Social Media within Electoral Oversight Governance
Keywords:
Electoral law, political campaigning, social media, election supervision, platform governance, digital advertising, accountabilityAbstract
Social media has altered electoral campaigning by enabling political messages to circulate through official campaign accounts, supporters, influencers, paid advertising systems, and algorithmic distribution. This article examines the legal structure and supervision of political campaigns on social media through doctrinal and conceptual legal research. Primary legal materials are examined alongside academic literature on digital campaigning, political communication, content moderation, and platform governance. The study finds that electoral rules already establish administrative traceability through registered campaign accounts, campaign periods, content requirements, and advertising provisions, yet account-based regulation does not fully capture distributed political communication. Electoral supervision therefore requires clearer attribution standards for third-party activities, documented digital-evidence procedures, and institutional cooperation with platforms. The article further proposes a multi-actor accountability framework in which electoral participants remain responsible for controlled or attributable campaign activities, third parties are assessed according to their own conduct and coordination, and platforms carry process-oriented responsibilities within their technical control. Such an arrangement can strengthen electoral accountability while preserving proportionality, political expression, and institutional boundaries in digital communication.
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