An episode of One Nation's Pauline Hanson's 'Please Explain' series has been pulled from Facebook and TikTok after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) reported the video to the platforms for disinformation.
The latest episode of the animated skit features Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong promoting the use of fake postal ballots to COVID-stricken Opposition leader Anthony Albanese.
"I brought you these," she tells Mr Albanese. "These are postal votes under the names of dead people, fake identities, some were stolen out of letterboxes."
"Oh really? But isn't that illegal?" Mr Albanese's character asks.
In the video authorised by Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, the character impersonating Senator Wong says the AEC doesn't require people's IDs when they vote "because that would be racist".
"Last election there were thousands of people that voted more than once, and only about 20 of those people were investigated, and no one's ever been convicted of voter fraud," her character says.
"The AEC won't find out until it's too late, and by the time they realise, we'll already be in government – kicking back, passing laws, spending money."
Within a few hours, the AEC had responded to the video posted on Senator Hanson's Twitter account, calling it "disappointing".
"Registered parties are aware of electoral integrity measures in place including information received / roll objection action taken for deceased Australians, and outbound & inbound postal vote verification steps," the AEC replied on Twitter.
The video is currently still available on YouTube and Twitter, with the latter marking it as misleading. The AEC has contacted both platforms asking for the content to be reviewed.
Evan Ekin-Smyth, the director of media and digital engagement at the AEC told The Feed the "egregious" video is part of a growing trend in this election cycle of individuals falsely claiming the election will be rigged by voter fraud.
"It's pretty egregious, really, " he said.
"Incorrect information about the election process is, without a doubt, more than what we've previously seen.
"There's also some real similarities to what we've seen with commentary with overseas elections as well."
In late 2020, former US President Donald Trump falsely claimed the victorious Democrats had rigged the US presidential election.
The AEC receives regular updates from the registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages to remove deceased individuals from the electoral roll.
Any postal vote received that is unable to be matched is rejected, the AEC state on their website.
The video has prompted the AEC to address the claims on its disinformation register.
"There is no evidence of postal vote applications being received under the names of deceased Australians," its latest post reads.
While the video is not in direct breach of electoral rules, Mr Ekin-Smyth said the AEC felt the video was "dangerous for democracy" and "undermined people's perceptions of electoral integrity".
"It potentially means that people do not believe as strongly as they should, that election results reflect the will of people," he said.
During this election cycle, the AEC has adopted a new approach to counter fake claims online about the voting process.
The organisation has launched an online disinformation register, upped its presence on social media, and produces YouTube videos to clear up confusion and concerns from voters.
The Feed is seeking comment from Twitter and YouTube.
