We are early in the federal election campaign, and we can already see that much of it is being conducted online with social media playing a pivotal role. The head of Elections Canada says he has been in touch with social media platforms in an effort to address concerns about misinformation.
In a news conference today, Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault confirmed that he has reached out to social media sites such as X (owned by Elon Musk), and TikTok (Chinese-owned) to “seek their support to making this election a secure election.” He said he has been satisfied with the response so far.
“We’ll see what action actually takes place during the election. Hopefully they won’t have to intervene, but if there are issues, hopefully they will be true to their word,” he said.
In a news release issued by TikTok Canada, the company stated that their Canada Federal Election Taskforce will protect the platform by working alongside technology to “enforce firm policies against election misinformation, misleading AI-generated content, violent or hateful conduct, and other content that violates our policies.”
Last week, ahead of the election call, Meta Platforms said they will ask advertisers to disclose the use of AI or other digital techniques to create or alter a political or social issue in an effort to curb misinformation ahead of the Canadian federal elections. The disclosure mandate will apply if an ad contains a photorealistic image, video or realistic-sounding audio that has been digitally created or altered to depict a real person as saying or doing something they did not actually say or do. It also extends to ads that show a person who does not exist or a realistic-looking event that did not happen, alters footage of a real event or depicts an event that allegedly occurred, but is not a true image, video or audio recording of the event.
The Canadian Election Misinformation Project was conducted by a group of researchers to “document, evaluate, and protect against mis – and disinformation during the 2021 Canadian federal election.” Researchers spent hundreds of hours on social media platforms following conversations about Canadian politics and the election to gain insight into how information travels across social media platforms.
The report found that “Canadians are increasingly obtaining their political information from a range of untrustworthy sources. There is an increasing danger of echo chambers or filter bubbles where people will mostly be exposed to information that supports their existing worldview and/or promotes a narrow political view.”
Perrault cautioned Canadians “…not to let their social media feed dictate what they read,” and to be on the lookout for misinformation about the electoral process. He recommends going to the Elections Canada website for accurate information about the voting process. The agency has launched a new online tool called “ElectoFacts” that lists and debunks inaccurate online information.
The best source of information about campaign platforms is the parties and candidates themselves. The Leaders’ Debates Commission announced on March 24th that the French-language debate will be held on April 16th at 9 p.m. eastern time, followed by the English-language debate on April 17th at 7 p.m. Both debates will be held at the Maison de Radio-Canada in Montreal and televised across the country. The commission said it will announce which leaders have qualified for the debates on April 1st.
