A federal report confirming the use of false social media posts to try to manipulate last springsa国际传媒檚 Alberta election points to dangers for the upcoming federal vote, political scientists say.
sa国际传媒淎bsolutely!sa国际传媒� said Duane Bratt of Calgarysa国际传媒檚 Mount Royal University.
sa国际传媒淚 think there are greater opportunities in the federal election. What the bots did is exploit already existing cleavages in society sa国际传媒� and federally, there are great divides.sa国际传媒�
On Friday, Global Affairs Canada released a report from the Rapid Response Mechanism. Created after the G7 meeting in Charleboix, Que., it is intended to help monitor and understand how the manipulation of social media can influence democratic politics.
Because the environment was expected to play a large role in last springsa国际传媒檚 Alberta election, the agency decided to examine the province as a test case for the upcoming federal ballot.
It found significant, organized use of fake social media accounts.
sa国际传媒�(We) identified communities that demonstrated a suspicious account creation pattern that is indicative of troll or bot activity,sa国际传媒� the report said.
sa国际传媒淚t was mainly comprised of supporters of the United Conservative Party. The pattern was not identified within communities of supporters of the Alberta Liberal Party or Alberta New Democratic Party.sa国际传媒�
Bots are social media programs that artificially generate social media posts that appear as if written by actual people. Trolls are social media users who intentionally initiate online conflict.
The number of UCP-supporting Twitter accounts nearly doubled in the weeks before the election, the agency found.
The report added that third-party lobby groups were also sa国际传媒渟preading disinformation onlinesa国际传媒� before the balloting.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 a distortion of the political process,sa国际传媒� said Chaldeans Mensah, political science professor at Edmontonsa国际传媒檚 MacEwan University.
sa国际传媒淭he basis for assessing political information becomes questionable. Wesa国际传媒檙e relying on computer-generated, outrageous misstatements, outright lies and disinformation.sa国际传媒�
Bratt said such posts arensa国际传媒檛 trying to sway opinion.
sa国际传媒淚t may be used to suppress voting. It may be used to agitate those that are already in your camp.sa国际传媒�
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Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch said such posts should be illegal. Social media companies should be required to verify the identify of anyone making political posts during an election.
sa国际传媒淎 bot is a false scheme aimed at misleading voters,sa国际传媒� he said. sa国际传媒淪o is anyone posing as 20 different people.sa国际传媒�
Conacher criticized the federal Liberals for weakening laws that would have helped control bot activity. He said Canada is heading for the kind of polarized, online free-for-all that characterized the last U.S. presidential election.
Christine Myatt, spokeswoman for Premier Jason Kenney, downplayed the reportsa国际传媒檚 significance. She pointed out his United Conservatives won with a large majority.
sa国际传媒淭he growing number of inauthentic troll accounts online is a disturbing trend but, as the report states, there is nothing to suggest that these accounts in any way influenced the results of the election,sa国际传媒� she said in an emailed statement.
Bratt said he doubts UCP officials were directly involved in organizing the bots. But the response of party supporters to the report has been similar to how supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump or the U.K.sa国际传媒檚 planned Brexit reacted to criticism, he said.
The UCP is initiating its own review of social media. As part of its inquiry into the influence and funding of environmental groups, the government will be referring to U.S. investigations into the activity of Russian social media bots.
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
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