Social media platforms Facebook, Google, WhatsApp, ShareChat, TikTok and the IAMAI have agreed to a voluntary code of ethics to abide by during the Lok Sabha Elections 2019, which are set to begin on April 11. The code came into effect on March 20, and will remain in force throughout the elections. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora said although the code is a good beginning, its “essentially a work in making”. The general election will see global and Indian social media outlets following the ‘voluntary code’ on taking down ‘problematic content’ and bringing ‘transparency in political advertising’. Almost a third of India’s 900 million voters are active on social media, making this one of the world’s biggest ever attempts to monitor internet content. According to the code, companies will have three hours to take down objectionable content in the silent period of 48 hours before polling. On this edition of the big picture we will analyse the election code and New Age Media