Crack down on ads

Social media are, to a very large extent, the new public square. Politicians who master them — from Donald Trump to Justin Trudeau — are the stars of the current era.

Yet the companies that dominate social media — Facebook, Twitter and Google — have been slow to acknowledge their power or accept responsibility for how their platforms are used. And governments have been just as slow to react to the dangers posed when social media are used to manipulate public opinion and influence elections.

That’s starting to change. Both Facebook and Twitter have just announced measures in Canada to make public more information about political advertising on their sites. Facebook Canada also launched what it calls its “Canadian Election Integrity Initiative” — essentially educating political players on how not to be hacked, and citizens on how to consume digital media without being led astray by purveyors of so-called “fake news.”

Still, the steps they have taken so far fall far short of what is needed, given their enormous influence and the potential risks to our democracy.

There’s a role for government in regulating online advertising, at least to the same standards of accountability as exist for ads in print or traditional broadcast media.

At a minimum, Ottawa should give Elections Canada expanded powers to oversee digital political campaigns. The agency should be able to force internet companies to disclose more information about political ads, including who paid for them, where they were placed and who saw them.

All this would just shed more light on what’s going on in the murky world of political “dark advertising.” It would not — and should not — police the actual content of ads, aside from banning outright hate speech.