Hate and paranoia abound in political social media, as federal Liberals prepare to intervene

Expressions of hate and paranoia, and conspiracy theories with roots in the United States have become a staple of Canadian political Facebook pages, as the Liberal government prepares legislation to crack down on social media platforms that don’t remove hate speech quickly enough. The Liberal Party of Canada Facebook page is no exception. It doesn’t take long to find comments to posts on the page that espouse conspiracy theories, attack immigrants, compare Conservative politicians to Nazis, or Liberals to pedophiles. “Reject the right-wing for they are neo-Nazis. Never vote for conservative political parties,” wrote one visitor to the Liberal Party Facebook page under a post honouring Holocaust victims and survivors. Other comments viewed by The Hill Times after a short search espoused a conspiracy theory about "a plan for total world-wide control," and repeated racist stereotypes in response to a post about Black History Month. The Liberal Party monitors its social media pages for discriminatory, hateful, and threatening content as well as misinformation and removes it, said spokesperson Braeden Caley. Similar comments are harder to find, but present, on Facebook pages for the Conservative Party, and the NDP; political think tanks including the Broadbent Institute and the Fraser Institute; and news organizations that cover federal politics, including The Hill Times. The federal Liberals promised in their 2019 election platform to bring in new rules for social media companies to curtail hate speech. “e will move forward with new regulations for social media platforms, starting with a requirement that all platforms remove illegal content, including hate speech, within 24 hours or face significant financial penalties. This will also include other online harms, such as radicalization, incitement to violence, exploitation of children, or creation or distribution of terrorist propaganda,” the platform said. The government is planning to introduce legislation in February or March to make good on that pledge, according to a report from The Globe and Mail. That report said the government’s own legislation would likely be influenced by German law, which requires social media platforms to remove illegal content under a tight deadline, or face significant penalties. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, Que.) and Justice Minister David Lametti (LaSalle-Émard-Verdun, Que.) are responsible for taking the lead on that legislation. Using the German law as a model could have consequences, however, said Karen Eltis, a professor who specializes in digital and constitutional law at the University of Ottawa. The punitive German law effectively pushes digital platforms to “over-suppress” online speech to avoid incurring monetary penalties, she said. Prof. Eltis said she was the “delighted” that the government was taking action to curb online hate speech, however. She said that democratic governments have for too long neglected their role setting rules online, instead forcing private companies that run digital media platforms to fill that void. Prof. Eltis said the government’s legislation could establish an ombudsperson or a set of high-level principles to help digital media platforms decide how to deal with hate speech online. Few pages attract as many extreme comments as Canada Proud, the right-wing political discussion forum founded by digital media strategist Jeff Ballingall in 2018, following the establishment of a similar page, Ontario Proud. Both pages have hundreds of thousands of followers. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pictured Jan. 15, 2021, holding a media availability in front of his home at Rideau Cottage in Ottawa. Political leaders, including Mr. Trudeau, are now routinely vilified, threatened, and inserted into conspiracy theories on social media. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade A single post on the Canada Proud page on Jan. 30 prompted one visitor to the page to liken the Liberal Party to Nazis, and another to reply that the Liberal government was “creating concentration camps.” A third wrote that “next they will be dragging people out of their homes in the middle of the night.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) is “heading closer to being arrested for treason,” wrote another. That Jan. 30 post had warned that “Justin Trudeau is taking his next step into authoritarianism,” and linked to a post on The Post Millennial, a right-wing political website, about the government’s decision to hire “security contractors” to knock on doors to confirm that people ordered into quarantine are complying. “Either his tenure ends or his life….I’m fine with both!” wrote another user under another post about the government’s vaccine rollout. A July 3, 2020, Canada Proud post about Corey Hurren, the heavily-armed man who rammed down the gates of the Rideau Hall grounds last July and threatened Prime Minister Trudeau, prompted a barrage of comments, nearly all of which applauded Mr. Hurren, called for violence against the prime minister, or dismissed the episode as a hoax designed to generate support for Liberal gun-control policies. “ bad Trudeau wasn’t there and this guy didn’t get to him. I would volunteer to be on the jury and would thank him for a job well done,” wrote one commenter. The post that elicited those replies, written by a Canada Proud administrator, was benign: “Just crazy. How was this man allowed to spend 1 minute on the ground in Trudeau’s residency, let alone 13 minutes,” it read, linking to another Post Millennial post. It's past time for democratic governments to step in to combat online hate, says University of Ottawa law professor Karen Eltis. Photograph courtesy of the University of Ottawa Canada Proud has spent more than $325,000 on political Facebook ads since it was established. Nearly all of them criticize or mock the federal Liberals, and Mr. Trudeau, in particular, who has been at the centre of several high-profile scandals since his party won power in 2015. It describes itself as “the largest grassroots group dedicated to defeating Justin Trudeau.” So-called third party political advocacy groups have spent millions on online and broadcast ads to try to influence recent Canadian elections. Those include groups on both ends of the political spectrum. A new group calling itself the Protecting Canada Project ran ads earlier this year attacking Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole (Durham, Ont.) with thinly-supported claims that he would cut federal health transfers if he won the next federal election. None of the posts by Canada Proud’s administrators observed by The Hill Times were hateful or incited violence. A Feb. 1 post encouraged followers to celebrate Black History Month: “together we are all Canada Proud,” it said. The comments in response were nearly all negative. “All lives matter,” was among the most popular. Some of the posts written by Canada Proud’s administrators go further than criticism. One Canada Proud post in June 2019 warned that Mr. Trudeau was “trying to rig” the upcoming election. “Here’s proof Justin Trudeau is trying to rig the election,” it said. The post included a video produced by Canada Proud, in which a nameless narrator warned that the government’s $600-million media bailout fund would give the press an incentive to cover the government in a more positive light. Supporters of former U.S. president Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building last month after Mr. Trump orchestrated a widespread and false campaign on and offline to convince Americans that Democractic President Joe Biden had somehow rigged the election in which he defeated Mr. Trump. Jeff Ballingall says Canada Proud 'has not condoned or promoted, and will never condone, violence or hate.' Photograph courtesy of Jeff Ballingall's Twitter In an interview with The Hill Times, Mr. Ballingall defended the headline on that 2019 post. He said that the government’s media bailout posed a greater threat to Canadian democracy than did the headline for his post. Mr. Ballingall said that Canada Proud “has not condoned or promoted, and will never condone, violence or hate.” “Any political violence is of concern. That’s not what Canada is about, and that’s not a part of a healthy democracy,” he said. Mr. Ballingall argued that Canada Proud’s administrators are government critics, and are not responsible for the reactions of those who comment on the page. Canada Proud does moderate its comments, however, both manually and using an automated process which scrubs comments that include one of roughly 600 banned words, including racial slurs, he said. Mr. Ballingall is the president of Mobilize Media Group. He was hired as the digital director for Mr. O'Toole’s successful leadership campaign in 2020. He no longer works for Mr. O’Toole. Mr. Ballingall said the Liberal government’s promised online hate speech legislation is a “diversion.” “They're sacrificing their status as the party of the Charter for a quick diversion from their shameful record procuring vaccines for Canadians,” he said. As of deadline last week, the Liberal government had not introduced its promised legislation to curb online hate speech. Public Safety Minister Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.) announced the addition of 13 new organizations to Canada’s list of terrorist entities on Feb. 3, including the Proud Boys, which had helped to organize the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building in January. The Proud Boys is not linked to Canada Proud. The listing process for terrorist entities makes it illegal to provide financial support to organizations that advocate for or carry out violent acts for ideological objectives. peter@hilltimes.com @PJMazereeuw From the Jan. 15, 2021 mandate letter for Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault "Work with the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada to take action on combatting hate groups and online hate and harassment, ideologically motivated violent extremism and terrorist organizations. You will be supported in this work by the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry."

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Hate and paranoia abound in political social media, as federal Liberals prepare to intervene

The German online hate speech law which the government may view as a model could lead to social media platforms over-suppressing online speech, says law professor Karen Eltis.

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