Social Science Research Council Research AMP Just Tech
News Item

Why are Twitter and Facebook taking a position on Canada’s elections? | The Star

Our general elections have been “largely clean” and mostly free of mis- and disinformation.

That’s according to a study published earlier this month that found no evidence of foreign activity through Facebook ads from Sept. 11 to Oct. 4. The underlying meaning, of course, is that Canadians don’t (yet) need to worry about Russian hacking into our domestic affairs.

But does that really mean the public information space hasn’t been disrupted?

The more significant findings from the study carried out by the Public Policy Forum, McGill University and New York University were oddly buried. Among them was that Canada’s elections are most definitely being tampered with — not by foreign, but domestic actors.

These human meme-machines were working shrewdly with third-party digital advocacy groups to unseat Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. Most notable among these groups is Canada Proud, founded by Jeff Ballingal, who is largely credited for sweeping Ontario Premier Doug Ford into office.

[…]

Source: Why are Twitter and Facebook taking a position on Canada’s elections? | The Star