As Canada prepares to go to the polls on September 20th

How the COVID-19 infodemic and conspiracy theories may influence the election
Nicole Bogart

As Canadians prepare to head to the polls for the second time since 2019, experts say there is new onus on voters to be cautious around divisive online campaigns that aim to sway opinion or cast doubt on the electoral process.

Canadians are no strangers to these types of disinformation campaigns – the kinds that claimed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wanted to implement Sharia law in Canada or purported that non-citizens were receiving voter cards in the mail during the last campaign.

But a lot has changed since 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of disinformation, one that experts say has fuelled the growth of online communities devoted to using conspiracy theories and deceptive information to bolster political and social movements.

“In this last year and a half there's really been a birth of a conspiracy movement,” Ciarán O'Connor, a research and investigation expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, focused on technology an extremism, told CTVNews.ca by phone in August.

“This also takes from the QAnon conspiracy started in the U.S., which in itself is kind of a methodology for how to create, seed and grow your own conspiracy theory and the tools to ‘do your own research’ – which in reality actually means just find any form of material that supports your argument, no matter how rooted in reality or not that it is.”

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Ahead of the campaign, Canada's Communications Security Establishment updated its report on cyber threats to Canada's democratic process to warn that the pandemic had created “new narratives for threat actors to exploit or undermine the perceived legitimacy of an election or weaken trust in democratic institutions” using social media.

And while many of these groups existed before the pandemic, experts say the uncertainty, skepticism and distrust stemming from COVID-19 has added new fuel to the fire.

Gone are the days where bot farms and foreign interference were considered the biggest threats to the electorate. In the post-COVID world, even social media users with small followings can add to the discourse.

“COVID-19 has shown a lot of people that whether you are right or wrong, you can have your opinions validated online,” O’Connor explained.

“Social media platforms also ...

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal ... -1.5541923

There will be a lot of disinformation campaigns going - probably from both sides. But I think if the anti-vaxxers try to spread their propaganda it will actually work against the Conservatives. Most people, I think, are pretty sick of them especially since they pose a threat to most people vaccinated or not.

What could hurt Trudeau, though, is if he he allows the extradition of Meng Wanzhou to the States and leaves the two Michaels to whatever fate the Chinese decide for them. Him simply defying the U.S. and arranging a trade is the Michaels' only hope. There is no question that she is nothing more than an American political hostage. Once in their hands they will trade her for something the Americans want and it won't be the Michaels. Canada saying to hell with the U.S. and bargaining with China is the only way we will get them back. There's no reason why we should feel any compunction about doing it to an "ally" either. So far, as far as allies go, Biden hasn't proved himself any better than Trump.