Poll observer warns of Iranian fake news mills, propaganda teams in full efforts to disrupt Bahrain polls and fan hatred among people

Bahrainis have been urged to be careful of what they read and believe on social media as a flurry of fake news released by Iranian agents could make its way to local social media circles in order to influence the upcoming parliamentary elections. Iranian propaganda teams are expected to try to influence the upcoming elections by releasing fake news on social media, according to an election observation organisation.

Integrity for Election Observation, an organisation under the umbrella of Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) in collaboration with London based Gulf European Centre for Human Rights will be monitoring social media for fake news and other disruptive content from Iran aimed at influencing the elections.

The organisation will monitor the social media sites and compile and report all violations. Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society General Secretary Faisal Fulad told Tribune that the interference from Iran is expected to come in different forms.

“They are going to use many different methods to interfere with the elections. There will be direct ways such as preventing and threatening the people from going to vote with the help of their partners in Bahrain.