Illustrating a rapidly changing information network in Cambodia, social media played a major role yesterday, as images and videos that appeared to depict fraudulent election activity went viral on Facebook and Twitter.

Videos of voters washing off the supposedly indelible security ink used to identify those who have cast their ballots and alleged illegal Vietnamese voters being blocked at poll stations were two primary social media stories that surged across the internet.

In video footage uploaded by Facebook user Lin Chin that garnered more than 3,000 shares and a swath of online commentary, papers are ripped from the hands of a voter alleged to be Vietnamese and a crowd chants “get out, get out”.

In a second video posted on Facebook, voters are shown washing off the security ink used to identify those who have cast their ballots. Posted yesterday under the username “I Love Cambodia Hot News”, the video scored 300 shares in less than one hour. More than 450 Facebook users responded to the video, with some declaring the National Election Committee (NEC) a sham, levelling the committee with a public relations nightmare in lieu of the televised