Facebook and Twitter users have been warned to be careful what they post online on Saturday or they could face hefty fines for breaching election rules.

On election day it is an offence to publish anything intended or likely to influence people before they vote. Political parties must remove all billboards, and media must not publish anything about the election before 7pm.

Fines for breaching the rules are up to $20,000.

And this year, the Electoral Commission has warned social media users could also be in the gun. But because it won't elaborate on how it is monitoring social media sites and what constitutes influencing a vote, there's a question mark over how real the threat is.

"The Electoral Commission's advice to people using social media is not to post messages on election day that could breach these rules," a spokesperson said.

"Where the Electoral Commission becomes aware of a breach, or receives a complaint, the commission will look into the incident and where appropriate refer the matter to the police."

About two million New Zealanders have a Facebook account and there are 40,000 Kiwis using Twitter.

Some social media commentators believe individuals should be able to exercise their right to free speech.

Charles Mabbet, contributing editor to Social Media NZ, believes the 2011 election is the first "social media election" with more people expressing their opinion online since the last election in 2008.

"I think if people are expressing an opinion, not on the behalf of an organisation or if they're not a lobbyist for a party, then it's fair enough, it's free speech," he said.

"The question is, how strongly will the Electoral Commission police it? We don't know how strictly they will enforce the fines, whether it will apply to someone on Facebook telling friends who to vote for or to someone who sends out mass tweets."

However, Mabbet believes social network users are able to police themselves.

"The thing I love with social media is that there's a self balance - if someone tells others how to vote they will invite a reaction from other users," he said.

"There's a kind of self-correction mechanism. In a way, if you're doing that, you're making a target for yourself."

Rosser Johnson, head of postgraduate studies and senior lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology, doesn't think reigning in opinions on Saturday is too much to ask.

 "I think most people will adhere to the rules, it will certainly be better if everyone does. But there will be cases when people step over the line."

Johnson believes fines for crossing the boundaries are so steep they act as a deterrent and "shows how serious the issue will be taken".

- Auckland Now

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