Political disinformation is rampant online. How can voters cope?
1489 Comments Commenting is now closed for this story.
Robert Borden Disinformation is rampant in the comments section as well.
David Raymond Amos Reply to @Robert Borden: Welcome to the Circus
Glenn Foster Most
people are aware of the disinformation. What is most shocking is the
disinformation and distortion created by the media including the CBC to
advance ideology. Fortunately most can sort through and filter out the
flotsam.
David Raymond Amos Reply
to @Glenn Foster: I agree However methinks the real problem is most
folks don't care and support their favourite political party anyway
becaust they thein they are all crooks N'esy Pas?
Jennifer McIsaac Just believe nothing that you read on social media would be a good start.
David Raymond Amos Reply
to @Jennifer McIsaac: Methinks that is a big faux pas because many
would agree that that is also a lot truth can be found N'esy Pas?
At the 1157 mark I made these comments
David Fletcher Two thirds of Canadians as a group lean left and yet about 80% of our corporate media lean right. Why is that?
James Dodd Reply
to @David Fletcher: Cause right wing parties hand them boat loads of
tax payers money. It's really that simple. They perpetuate the fantasy
of trickle down economics, which makes corporate media richer.
David Raymond Amos Reply
to @David Fletcher: Methinks that is a rhetorical question for the
benefit of Canada's self-described "Natural Governing Party" N'esy Pas?
Vladimir Smejkal Reply to @David Fletcher:
Because sadly, Canada is not the country with free, unbiassed and independent news media...
Jason DeBack
Reply to @David Fletcher: check out and learn a bit from Jimmy Dore and you'll learn why
Allan Smithie
Reply to @David
Fletcher: 66% of Canadians is about 20 Million peeps, 80% of the
corporate media (the ones making decisions) accounts for about 5
people...and your point is?
Steve Hicken Reply to @David Fletcher: now that is disinformation
Brian Paradis
Reply to @David
Fletcher: Where do you get figure? The majority of Canadians are in the
center only the media and downtown Toronto crowd are on the left
Ted Sedor
Reply to @James Dodd: how many BILLIONS did Trudeau hand out before the election
Ted Sedor
Reply to @James Dodd:
Aug. 11-18 — Liberal MPs and ministers made 595 spending commitments
worth a total of $4.9 billion. 330 spending commitments made from Aug.
19 to Aug. 25 total $2.85 billion. In the last two weeks ?
James Dodd
Reply to @Ted Sedor: I never said that the Liberals don't hand out money either. They are just as guilty of it.
Ted Sedor
Reply to @James Dodd:
In the entire month before former prime minister Stephen Harper called
the election on Aug. 2, 2015, Conservative ministers and MPs made 604
spending commitments worth a combined $1.4 billion.
James Dodd
Reply to @Ted Sedor:
I'm not sure what exactly you're trying to prove. Amount of spending
commitments doesn't prove anything. You may as well be shouting random
numbers. Context actually matters.
Ted Sedor Reply
to @James Dodd: Prior to the election being called the Prime Minister,
Cabinet Ministers, and Parliamentary Secretaries criss-crossed the
country making partisan announcements where they wove campaign
narratives into official government speeches and news releases, Of
equal, if not greater concern, is the fact that they invited non-elected
Liberal Party of Canada candidates to attend these official,
taxpayer-funded government announcements.”
James Dodd
Reply to @Ted Sedor: You realize every incumbent government does this before each election right?
I mean the provincial conservatives in Ontario literally held back
funding for multiple things till last week to help boast their federal
counterparts... this is not abnormal in any way.
Verne Gerchin Stop reading articles on this website is a good start.
David Raymond Amos Reply
to @Verne Gerchin: Hell No Methinks many would agree that they are far
too entertaining and help to make the circus N'esy Pas?
Don McTavish The people with the money/box are the true propagandists. Just excluding citizens is relatively important.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Don McTavish: True
Don McTavish Is it disinformation when leaders travel around the country for photo-op while never meeting the average citizen.
David Raymond Amos Reply to @Don McTavish: YUP
Steve Hicken Strange disinformation never bothered the CBC during the Harper years ,but it does now
David Raymond Amos Reply to @Steve Hicken: True
Jason DeBack folks
arguing over scraps n bones from which best coke vs pepsi political
parties that don't give a rat's behind whilst those at the TOP look down
and laugh
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Jason DeBack: I Wholeheartedly Agree Sir
Daniel R. Mueller Thanks CBC, I'll be sure to stick to approved propoganda from now on LoL
David Raymond Amos Reply to @Daniel R. Mueller: Me Too (among other sources)
Daryll Mcbain Yes it is, Trudeau is still claiming his government is transparent.
David Raymond Amos Reply to @Daryll Mcbain: Methinks that par for the course N'esy Pas?
Steve Hicken hmm I will still watch Ezra good man!
David Raymond Amos Reply
to @Steve Hicken: Methims Mr Butts knows I watch Ezy Baby because he is
the source of some true stories now and then even though he just
another sneaky Conservative and now ex lawyer N'esy Pas?
Robert Anderson You know that a country is in deep trouble when the senior leadership refuse to be ethical, honest, and transparent.
David Raymond Amos Reply to @Robert Anderson: YUP
Danny Tanker "Political disinformation is rampant online. How can voters cope?"
Easily. Research your position from credible news organizations like
the CBC for example. Not Facebook or Youtube or rumours and slop talk
from the guys down at the garage.
Brian Wakeford
Reply to @Danny Tanker: Cough.... did you say CBC... the second time I've laughed milk up my nose today... LOL
Danny Tanker
Reply to @Brian Wakeford:
Could be a hiatal hernia ?
Brian Wakeford
Reply to @Danny Tanker: Haha.. OK doc.
Allan Smithie
Reply to @Brian Wakeford: Hey, if you don't like CBC...why are you here?
Brian Paradis
Reply to @Brian Wakeford: So true! but they smile nice and pretend to be unbiased
Peter Baxter
Reply to @Danny
Tanker: LOL....go to the fa ke ne w s propagandists organizations and
you will be safe from misinformation LOLOLOL....now that is funny!
Danny Tanker
Reply to @Peter Baxter:
So, I must ask, where do you get your credible information from? maybe I'm missing a great site that I should visit too?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Danny Tanker: Dream on
Reply to @Allan Smithie: I'm here for the entertainment value, same as why I watch power and politics with Vassey
Danny Tanker
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
Ok, fine, do you read any news at all or just listen to what others say? I'm curious.
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
Gee whiz, talk about being in a rut!!!
"Fundy Royal voters have elected Conservatives all but 1 time in 28 elections over 101 years"
Reply to @Danny
Tanker: It is tough.....I find that if I go to multiple sources...and
compare what the left wing reporters are saying to what the right wing
reporters are saying....use critical thinking and reasonable
judgement.....you can connect the dots fairly accurately
Someone says Scheer is chocolate milk boy or Scheer is Harper....you can tell how valid it is...
Four senior Liberal MPs, two of them Cabinet Ministers, come out and
throw their careers away to warn us about Justin....you can tell how
valid it is
Someone changes their story every two days.....you can tell they are l yi n g
Just some common sense tips
Danny Tanker
Reply to @Peter Baxter:
All I read is poor evidence, hearsay mostly, to go to court with,
improbable a prosecutor would take it on and waste the court's valuable
time and a waste of an investigator's time.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Danny Tanker: "Gee whiz, talk about being in a rut!!!"
Do you see me mentioned anywhere in the the article
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @David Raymond Amos: Now Google Fundy Royal Debate
Daniel R. Mueller Watch out for memes everybody, their out to control your mind! - CBC, this article
David Raymond Amos Reply
to @Daniel R. Mueller: Methinks most folks are way past too late in
controlling theri own minds as they partake of the proper kool aid then
blindly cheer for the Red Team or the Blue Team or the Green Team or the
Orange Team No matter what any True News or Fake News make claim N'esy
Pas?
Michael Rokkman CBC is online! Coincidence? .....
Danny Tanker
Reply to @Michael Rokkman:
This is news to you?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Michael Rokkman: NOPE
Paul Huisman “Tell
people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe,
and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and
they have to touch it to be sure.” ― George Carlin
We should be aware that our tenancy is to see what we expect and want to see
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Paul Huisman:Good for you Sir Saint George should never be forgotten
Allan Smithie
Reply to @Paul Huisman: "If someone has the right to take your rights away from you..you have no rights!" - George Carlin
I miss Mr. Carlin...and Bill Hicks too!
Daniel R. Mueller
Reply to @Paul
Huisman: Careful Paul, you might hurt someones feeling, and that's
probably hate speech, a punishable offence these days.
Robert Anderson
That picture is obviously fake. Trudeau does not have his Mr. Dressup outfit on.
Danny Tanker
Reply to @Robert Anderson:
You can't tell the difference can you?
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Danny Tanker: Oh So True
James Dodd
Reply to @Robert
Anderson: Of all the things to compare someone to as an insult I've
never understood why people think Mr. Dressup is such a burn. Would you
be insulted is someone said you were like Mr. Rogers?
Brian Paradis
Reply to @James Dodd: I wouldn't vote for any of themLOL
James Dodd
Reply to @Brian
Paradis: I'd vote for Mr. Rogers given the opportunity to do so. By all
accounts the man was probably the closest thing to a truly selfless
person in recent history.
David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Robert Anderson: OPPS I meant to agree with you Sir and not Mr Tanker
Political disinformation is rampant online. How can voters cope?
Between disinformation, emotionally-provocative posts and political spin, it can be hard to figure out what’s fact online. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)
The federal election is officially underway, and that means
more Canadians will be moving online to discuss, debate and prepare for
the vote.
But they'll be stepping into an environment that's
been embroiled in the campaign for months, with messaging that ranges
from disinformation to good old-fashioned politicking.
Here's a
look at some of the major players online, the kind of messages they're
sharing and what voters can expect online over the next five weeks.
Third party advertisers: Social media savvy through a hyper-partisan lens
While
third party advertisers have played a role in Canadian democracy for a
long time, there's a new breed that's solely focused on the election and
is particularly savvy online. Using memes, videos and jokes, newer
third party groups are hoping to influence voters with shareable online
content.
North99, founded by former Liberal party staffers, and
Canada Proud, founded by a former Conservative party staffer, are two of
the most prolific of these newer groups.
Third party
advertisers are required to register with Elections Canada if they spend
$500 or more on advertising related to the election, and report where
their money comes from and where it goes.
Watch: What to look for and how to protect yourself from falling for disinformation and misinformation:
CBC News
Why it’s so easy to fall for fake news and how to spot it
Whether during an
election or just a regular day of the year, people are bombarded with
news and information in their feeds. So how do we know what's true and
what's false? A lot of it unravels with a little digging. We show you
what to look for and how to protect yourself from falling for
disinformation and misinformation. 6:56
Third
party groups aren't typically sharing disinformation — demonstrably
false information deliberately shared with an intent to mislead — but
instead frame information to promote a particular point of view. Lately,
their messaging has largely been attacking rival parties and
politicians.
"We want to talk about issues that are going to
resonate in key electoral battlegrounds in a pertinent, accessible,
digestible way," said Jeff Ballingall, who runs the conservative-leaning
Canada Proud.
Ballingall
said some of the issues that resonate the most with Canada Proud
readers are government corruption, inequality and the cost of living.
A recent post from Canada Proud, for example, shared a new report from The Globe and Mailthat
said the RCMP have been blocked from accessing certain documents
related to the SNC-Lavalin affair. Canada Proud tied the lack of access
to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him "corrupt" and dubbing him
"Canada's crime minister."
Canada Proud frequently attacks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in its posts. (Screengrab/Facebook)
This
kind of provocative language can be powerful on social media, said
Gordon Pennycook, a University of Regina cognitive psychologist and
assistant professor who studies disinformation.
"The stuff that
really works, that really gets spread, is the stuff that gives people a
really strong immediate reaction, which is often fear or disgust," said
Pennycook. "It's compounded when it has societal importance on something
people care about, which is where it intertwines with politics."
Darker corners: where disinformation thrives
There
are also plenty of online groups and pages that share political
messaging but aren't official third parties. These groups, on Reddit and
Facebook, aren't subject to any regulations and often peddle
disinformation.
Disinformation can take a number of forms,
including memes. Memes can include a false quote or made-up fact pasted
on an image. The image format makes it easy to share but difficult to
track.
Since the image isn't linked to a single source that can be
fact-checked, it's difficult to debunk memes, leading many people to
believe they're true.
This meme takes an old image to spread false information about Trudeau visiting a mosque on Victoria Day. (Facebook)
Another strategy is to share information out of context, causing people to misunderstand its meaning. Such information can be old news stories shared as if they're new, or videos edited to leave out an extra sentence
or important context. These posts often tap into fears and
misunderstandings around immigration, voter fraud and corruption in
government.
When it comes to spreading disinformation, Facebook
is a hotspot because it's much more popular among Canadians than other
platforms, according to Gabrielle Lim, a researcher at the Data &
Society Research Institute focusing on the implications of
disinformation, propaganda and "fake news" in society.
"Canadians
are much more on Facebook than, say, Twitter or Reddit," Lim said. "If I
were a disinformation operator wondering where I'm going to get the
most impact, I'd look at what platforms people are using."
Party messages online: toeing the line
Long
before the election was formally called, each of the major political
parties was already engaging in campaign messaging online. While a lot
of what they've said is par for the course (criticisms of policies and
candidates), other messages have struck some social media users as
misleading.
Frequently, Canadians on social media will flag to
CBC tweets from politicians that they consider unfair or misleading. For
example, readers have complained about Liberal MP Bill Morneau tweeting
about Conservative Party leader Andrew Scheer's comments on cutting
government spending, and about Scheer himself sharing a debunked story
about a U.K. child murderer coming to Canada.
"Politics is a
rough sport and people occasionally take liberties in critiquing their
opponent," said Michael Pal, an associate law professor at the
University of Ottawa specializing in election law.
"That's all normal.
It's just happening more online."
Getting through the online bog
If
you're overwhelmed by the mess of things online, you're not alone.
Between disinformation, emotionally provocative posts and political
spin, it can be hard to figure out what's fact.
Simply keeping
your eyes peeled for completely false information isn't enough, said Ben
Nimmo, director of investigations at Graphika, a commercial analytics
company in New York. Nimmo leads the company's efforts to track and
detect disinformation online.
"It's always important to look out
for obvious fakes — things that are demonstrably false — but that's
really only a part of the overall spectrum of manipulation online,"
Nimmo said. "A lot of what we see is not a story which is 100 per cent
fake. A lot of the time the facts will be reported accurately, but
there'll be a lot of emotional targeting or emotional bias on top of
it."
Nimmo said the best thing voters can do to protect
themselves is to think critically about everything they encounter
online, from tweets to blog posts to news articles. And if something
you're reading causes you to feel an immediate emotional reaction, take
it as a clue to step back and reconsider.
"Some of the news out
there will be entirely genuine, some of it will be somewhat twisted,
some of it will be entirely false, but we're all very incautious in the
way we actually consume news on our phones," Nimmo said. "Take a step
back, don't get sucked into the swirl."
Have you spotted something fishy online? Send your disinformation news tips to kaleigh.rogers@cbc.ca
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