It’s no joke: The World Economic Forum is not running the Victorian election

^{By Renee Davidson}

A satirical tweet saying the World Economic Forum has partnered with the Victorian Electoral Commission has been interpreted literally by some social media users and embraced as proof the Victorian election will be rigged. 

The tweet, posted on October 25, reads: "@electionsvic have announced a historic partnership with @wef to oversee and count the votes in the 2022 Victorian State Election, with many other Australian states reportedly expressing interest in their services for future elections."

The account that made the tweet regularly posts satirical content, describing itself in its bio as “Fake News in the Economic Zone Formerly Known As Australia”. Its location is listed as “Great Southern Satire Province”. 

Screenshots of the tweet have been reshared on Facebook and Instagram with no mention of its satirical nature, but with comments under the posts suggesting that people have taken them seriously. Included in the screenshot is a superimposed statement which claims: ​​”The F***ing WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM is ruuning (sic) VIC Election!!! Told you its Rigged!!!”

Another Facebook user who shared the screenshot also claimed the election was “all rigged”. 

But the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has rejected the claims as “completely false”.

“We are aware of a post circulating online that suggests we have partnered with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to oversee the counting of votes,” the VEC wrote on its Twitter account. “This is completely false. We have not partnered with the WEF or any other organisation to count votes for the State election.”

The VEC also rejected the claim in a reply to the original Tweet. 

“Hi @auseconomicunit, while we appreciate your account is satirical, spreading false information about electoral processes is no joke,” the VEC wrote. “Our votes are counted by election staff and supervised by scrutineers appointed by candidates.”

The VEC has listed the claim on its Misinformation Register, where it reiterates that it has not partnered with the WEF or any other organisation for running and counting the votes in the Victorian election on November 26, 2022. 

The claim has also been fact checked by Reuters and AAP FactCheck. 

The World Economic Forum is an international non-government organisation for public-private cooperation, established in 1971. It engages the world’s leading political, business and cultural figures to shape global, regional and industry agendas.