Fake News Manhunt Detailed
' The ad was posted through a broker, Taboola Canada Inc. of Toronto, that was cleared of any wrongdoing. Taboola told the Commissioner of Elections it “did not produce any of the content”, but could not identify who did without a court order. Investigator Alexander obtained the order March 27. Evidence suggested the ad was purchased through a firm listed in the Israeli corporate registry, according to Access To Information records.
The Commissioner of Elections yesterday would not comment on the ongoing probe. “The duration of these investigations can vary greatly,” said Michelle Laliberté, spokesperson for the Commissioner. The Singh mansion hoax is the first to fall under federal investigation since cabinet on January 30 announced a $7 million program to monitor online news coverage in the October 21 general election campaign.
“Ultimately it’s not our job to tell Canadians what is good or bad information, but to provide them the tools and the resources to, when something comes to them, to make a choice on their own and to say where this information is coming from, who is behind it, and what their objective is,” Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould earlier told reporters.
“When you open up a newspaper, you have a sense this is coming from a journalist who’s professional, who has done their research, who has worked at it, and whose information is coming from a reliable source,” said Gould. “Of course, depending on which newspaper that is, you have a sense of where that information is coming from. When you go onto a social media platform and you see a meme or you see a story, if it’s being shared by a friend or a cousin or someone trusted, you may implicitly share that information because it’s coming from a trusted source.”
New Democrats expressed frustration with the pace and scope of the investigation. “It spread through Twitter and Facebook who themselves have no responsibilities,” MP Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.) told a February 7 hearing of the House affairs committee. “What happens then?”
“It’s a completely made up story to try to discredit the NDP leader in the byelection,” said Cullen. “It is utterly untrue.”
“What we have now is fake news which is akin to a match,” said Cullen: “Social media is like the wind. These lies can be weaponized now unlike ever before, and weaponized in that they’re targeting particular voters on their motivated issues. Is that a fair analogy in terms of what the threat is?”
“Certainly that is a significant threat,” replied Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault.'
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