'Digital mercenaries': MPs describe their clashes with disinformation campaigns
CBC
The explosion of misleading and false information online in recent years will be difficult for governments to regulate on their own, say MPs who have themselves been targets of disinformation campaigns.
"Can we actually regulate this? My gut instinct is no," said Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, who took part in a panel discussion airing this weekend on CBC's The House with Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi and Charlie Angus of the NDP.
Rempel Garner said both the technology driving disinformation and the business models that make it pay are adapting far more quickly than governments can move.
"We're in a completely different universe," Angus added. "We have to accept that what we consider disinformation is ordinary people who are now opting out and creating, spreading and amplifying sometimes very toxic content because they think that is where reality is."
The COVID-19 pandemic, the enforced isolation during lockdowns and now Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine — they've all contributed to a flood of conspiracy theories and false information spreading online.
Angus said people are turning away from traditional media sources to embrace what he calls "digital mercenaries" and bot farms that feed the appetite of audiences looking to reinforce their views of the world.
It's a breeding ground for disinformation campaigns on everything from the safety of COVID-19 vaccines to the reasons behind Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Just this week, the Russian embassy in Canada released a statement accusing NATO allies of an "unprecedented wave of lies, fake news, distorted and fabricated facts aimed at discrediting our actions."
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That prompted calls from opposition MPs for the government to expel the Russian ambassador, Oleg Stepanov. It also earned a very undiplomatic rebuke from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a news conference.
"We understand that the ambassador in Ottawa is a mouthpiece for Putin, is saying the same kinds of the things that are Russian propaganda and disinformation," Trudeau said.
Governments around the world are struggling to blunt the impact of online sites that spread disinformation to receptive audiences — sometimes with tragic results.
In Washington, D.C. a man opened fired in a pizzeria after reading fake news articles that claimed the restaurant was a front for a child abuse ring.
The 2017 killings at a mosque in Quebec City led to the circulation on social media of false news about who was responsible.
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