What counts as foreign interference? Not Elon Musk, Canadian officials say

Officials monitoring Canada's federal election for foreign interference say they will warn the public about covert and malicious attempts to meddle in the democratic process.

Officials monitoring Canada’s federal election for foreign interference say they are focused on covert and deliberate efforts to interfere in the campaign — and that doesn’t include the public opinions shared by U.S. billionaire Elon Musk on social media.

This year’s general election is the first to be held since revelations of foreign interference efforts in past campaigns led to new safeguards and procedures to monitor for, and warn the public about, attempts to meddle in elections.

While officials say they are monitoring attempts to sow discord through social media, they made clear in a briefing Monday there’s a difference between that and individual free expression — no matter how influential that individual may be.

“Mr. Musk, or anyone else working under him, does not fall into the category of foreign interference,” Laurie-Anne Kempton, assistant secretary to the cabinet for communications at the Privy Council Office, told reporters in French.

Allen Sutherland, assistant secretary to the cabinet for democratic institutions, added that although Musk has a “considerable following” in Canada and around the world, anything he posts online “is an expression of personal opinion.”

“It’s definitely not clandestine, it’s very public by its very nature,” he said.

“Canadians will have an opportunity to judge his or anyone else’s opinions as expressed throughout the election campaign, so our trust is with Canadians that they can separate what is truthful and what may not be truthful, and what should be listened to and what should be ignored.”

Officials, however, said if there was evidence that Musk or any other foreign actor was manipulating social media algorithms to promote a particular message during the election, that those activities would be investigated.