AI, Transparency and Campaign Costs: Fairness Agreement for Vienna Election Presented
SPÖ and NEOS presented a fairness agreement for the upcoming Vienna election on Wednesday. It includes, among other things, a commitment to financial transparency and an obligation not to work with fake news or misleading AI material. It stipulates, for example, the "strict observance" of the election campaign cost limit of 5 million euros. The other parties are also called upon to sign the agreement, it was emphasized.
Vienna Election on April 27
Vienna will elect a new city council on April 27. In the upcoming election campaign, Red-Pink now wants to establish a fairness agreement, which already existed in a comparable form at the 2020 ballot. "When election campaigns start, these are times when things can get politically turbulent," predicted the state party secretary of the Vienna SPÖ, Barbara Novak.
It is now proposed to refrain from dirty campaigning, underhanded tactics or defamation of individuals, she explained. What is new this time is above all that the development of artificial intelligence is taken into account. AI-generated image, video or audio material should not be used if it contains false or derogatory content. This applies, for example, to so-called deepfake videos.
Fairness Agreement Sent to Parties
Philipp Kern, the state manager of the Vienna NEOS, reminded that recently about 44 percent of younger people stated that they have no trust in the political system. "We want to rebuild that trust." He also pointed out that under pink government participation, the limit for the funds used was reduced to 5 million euros. A report on the costs should also be prepared before the election.
The agreement was also sent to the other parties represented in the Vienna City Council today, as reported. In 2020, the then governing partners SPÖ and Greens, as well as the NEOS, signed. ÖVP and FPÖ have refrained from signing. The People's Party has also already criticized immediately after today's presentation, especially the procedure.
"And now we're just supposed to sign gratefully?"
We received the alleged fairness agreement on the day of the press conference by mail, complained VP State Managing Director Peter Sverak. We want a fair election campaign, but there were no previous discussions or opportunities for co-design: "And now we're just supposed to sign gratefully?"
The enthusiasm was also limited among the other opposition parties. The Green State Party Secretary Barbara Obermaier made it clear that they are in favor of such an agreement, but added: "It is irritating, however, that the two governing parties SPÖ and NEOS negotiate the agreement among themselves and all other parties only learned about it from the media today."
FPÖ leader Dominik Nepp complained via press release that while fairness is being talked about, the SPÖ at the same time insults the FPÖ and its voters. In addition, Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) acted contradictorily when bringing forward the election. Just before that, he had assured that he wanted to work until the end of the legislative period.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.