Election laws to change after Facebook scandal
OTTAWA— The race is on to regulate the political use of Facebook and other online platforms before the next federal election.
Amid growing concerns about the potential of social media to subvert democracy, and with elections officials warning that time is running out, the federal government appears set to propose changes to Canada’s elections laws as early as this week.
The Liberals are expected to unveil a number of measures aimed at regulating modern electioneering techniques such as micro-targeted digital ads.
At the same time, a parliamentary committee is openly musing about regulation for socialmedia giants such as Facebook.
This is a dramatic change of tune from the Trudeau Liberals. Back in 2016, basking in their leap from third-place party to majority government, Liberals were happy to brag about the party’s sophisticated new data-driven approach, embracing platforms like Facebook to reach voters and sell Trudeau’s message. But then the U.S. presidential election happened. Since then, through scandal after scandal, the public saw how dangerous the combination of big data politics and social media manipulation could be.
Facebook has borne the brunt of that scrutiny, first with questions around why disinformation and propaganda campaigns so easily spread through its network, and now in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The U.K.-based company is accused of using the harvested data of 87 million Facebook users to try to influence political campaigns.
Sources said it’s hoped proposed changes to elections rules, expected later this week, will go some distance in addressing the issue — while acknowledging it will take more than elections rules to address the power and influence of internet behemoths in Canada.
A spokesperson for acting Democratic Institutions Minister Scott Brison said those changes will include measures to ensure “greater transparency by political actors” operating online, and that foreign money doesn’t fund domestic political advocacy.
“We believe that Canadians have the right to free speech, and also the right to know who is trying to influence their opinions,” Brison said.