[View the story "Big Brother vs Twitter" on Storify ]Big Brother vs Twitter Canada's recent denouncement of "tweeting" during the country's electoral process has users protesting the government's involvement in the ever-growing world of social media. Storified by The Stream · Wed, Oct 26 2011 21:59:45
In 2011, in the age of the Internet, Canada has millions of broadcast channels. More than half the country has a Facebook account, and there are millions of Canadians on Twitter.173.192.209.194
The country's electoral agency issued a warning to social media users this week, reminding them that Section 329 of the Elections Act applies to transmissions made over the internet.cbc.ca
Section 329 of Canada's Elections Act prohibits the transmission of voting results until all polling stations, nationwide, have closed.173.192.209.194
Canadian and international news outlets are now reporting a potential mass challenge to Canada's election night news blackout, and have noted that the #tweettheresults hashtag has emerged for this movement. On election night you'll be able to use this site to see what happens in real time....just as you could on Twitter itself.173.192.209.194
On Twitter sites like elxn41, celebrity tweeters like Jian Ghomeshi are expressing amazement. US journalism professor/blogger Jay Rosen is asking whether a Canadian "mass tweet-in" will break out to protest Section 329. #Votemob, which is urging young Canadians to get out and vote, is passing the idea along.thetyee.ca
An informal protest has begun on Twitter using the tag #tweettheresults , but be warned, the consequences for breaching 329 carries a penalty of up to $25,000, and five years in jail.maximumpc.com
"We should all tweet on May 2," tweeted Denis Gagnon of Timmins, Ont. "Either we flood the system and [Elections Canada] gets overwhelmed, or we all get fined and end up paying for #elxn41."cbc.ca
Jail time over #s329 if I #tweettheresults ? Hah. Good luck tracing all of us. http://twitpic.com/4plv8hdavidmetcalfe
So elections canada rules are from what 1935? Insane! #tweettheresults #elxn41inkscrblr
I will be tweeting #elxn41 results from the east and west coasts in protest of #elxncda #tweettheresultsjamietrevor
EC can't even keep an up to date voters list and they expect to monitor twitter on e-day. Good luck #tweettheresultsmchivien
@fugitive247 I'd heard of the law, but not the #tweettheresults tag. May have to take part...been a while since I've been in court. ;)BradLeclerc
Although not all users are on board with the protest--
Why should twitter be exempt from broadcast laws about election results? I'm with Elections Canada. don't #tweettheresults earlymweverink15
Don't #tweettheresults. That's just childish. BTW, all tweets are timestamped. EC doesn't need to rush to find or fine offenders. #elxn41ivany
--even mainstream media broadcasters are rallying behind the movement.
Canadian broadcasters have banded together to request a change in the law before election night, but have so far been flatly denied. This puts old media broadcasters at a disadvantage to social media, which if history has proven anything, refuses to be constrained by ancient laws.maximumpc.com
This is not the first time that the Canadian government has pushed Section 329 of the Elections Act.
Elections Canada has a history of prosecuting people under this section. After the 2000 election it raided the home of a man who had posted the early results on his website, fined him and seized his computer.jacksnewswatch.com
Users can now access
TweetTheResults.ca to keep track of tweets with the correlating hashtag.
This site simply aggregates tweets–messages posted to Twitter–that include the hashtag #TweetTheResults. We, the site owners, aren’t publishing the results ourselves–we’re just collecting what others have said. Even without this site, Canadians could simply use Twitter’s search engine to discover results before polls close in their time zone.173.192.209.194
We created this site to highlight that fact, and to urge lawmakers to revise this information blackout. As plenty of observers have pointed out, there’s a simple solution to the publication ban: Elections Canada should simply delay publicizing any results until polls have closed in British Columbia.173.192.209.194
While Canada struggles with social media's impact on its statutes and limitations, Nigeria has embraced the technology as an important aspect to its elections.
For the first time in Nigeria’s history, twenty- and thirty- year old Nigerians across the world have been granted an opportunity to take active roles in the conduct, reporting, monitoring, scrutinising and documentation of the elections.blacklooks.org
Despite recording only 44 million Nigerians (out of an estimated 150 million) as having access to the internet, it is impossible to imagine elections in Nigeria without tools such as Facebook, Twitter, SMS, mobile phones, mobile apps or cameras. These have fast become the weapons of choice for the Nigerian revolution.blacklooks.org
Voters are encourage to report violence and irregularities around polling sites as well as the possible outcomes.
Many Nigerians have used the new technologies to ask the various candidates about their policies, said Tola St. Michael, a Nigerian graduate student in Paris. St. Michael has been involved in a campaign to get Nigerian youth involved in the elections – by using social media to get them to register to vote.thejournal.eu
African politicians, said St. Michael, “use it to refute misinformation…make campaign announcements…. I think they realize that it’s a new reality.” Social media are also being used to monitor the electoral process in real time. “People are turning Facebook and Twitter to give firsthand accounts of their different experiences at polling centers. “People are paying attention to it.” said St. Michaelthejournal.eu
While accreditation is going on smoothly in some parts of Oyo State, voters are complaining of inadequate security. #NigeriaDecides.aulermed
Although no security officer at PU30/07/03/009 Kosodo area, Ibadan North-East, accreditation is going on smoothly #NigeriaDecidesKelvinci
Many attribute the movement to Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan's active social media presence.
With the growing penetration of Internet and telephone technology, the electorate has embraced social media platforms that are becoming increasingly popular around the world. In fact, Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, nicknamed “The Facebook President,” first announced his candidacy on the popular social networking site.thejournal.eu
As for me and my house, we voted. I hope you did. 'Do or die' is dead forever. Today we did it with pride and that is why I, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, am proud of you and Nigeria.<br><br>If you voted to today place this on your profile to let the world know that we did it with right and we did it together. GEJGoodluck Jonathan
As more politicians lean on social media to aid in campaign efforts, governments may have to accept that netizens will use the technology to report election results-- despite if the tweeting is deemed "too early."
RT @NigeriaNewsdesk In Makoda LGA of Kano State,ANPP State Assembly candidate,Khalid Kore is inducing voters with money #NigeriaDecidesseunfakze
