‘It’s become almost the norm’: Misinformation ramping up during election, expert says

University of Alberta Professor Tim Caulfield discusses the possible spread of misinformation during an election cycle

University of Alberta Health Law Professor Tim Caulfield discusses the possible spread and impact of misinformation during an election cycle with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: How worried are you about information manipulation that may be flowing out there in the social media sphere for Canadians to consume in this election?

Tim Caulfield: Very. We know, and research consistently shows us, that information on social media platforms can have a dramatic impact on elections. We’ve seen this, not just in the United States, but around the world.

We’re seeing misinformation about the election process itself, about voting, about alleged fraudulent happenings. You hear misinformation about candidates and you see misinformation about issues that are relevant to the election. That might have an impact on voting decisions, so this is a real problem and it comes from absolutely everywhere.

In fact, Elections Canada noted that foreign interference, which is largely misinformation on social media platforms, should be viewed as the single greatest threat to democracy. So, yeah, this really, really matters.

MH: Is there a platform of most concern and who or what do you see being targeted from that Canadian perspective?

TC: I think it is important to note out of the gate, this happens across the ideological spectrum, especially at the extremes, but a growing body of evidence tells us in this cultural moment, we’re seeing more misinformation come from populist parties. I’ll let you do your own sort of definition of what that might mean, populist parties.

It’s become almost the norm, not just in Canada but really around the world, for these kinds of political entities to use misinformation to forward their agendas. Just look what happened in the United States. We know that misinformation about particular topics, whether it’s immigration, or crime, or the economy, or climate change, really did have an influence on voter decisions. We’re likely to see the same thing happening here in Canada.

There are certain platforms we know, like X, that can be very influential for a particular community. TikTok has been very influential, particularly for the younger demographics. So unfortunately this misinformation is really everywhere, sort of permeating all of the social media platforms, so we have to be vigilant.

MH: Elections Canada has been in contact with these social media platforms. How confident are you in the platforms committing to taking action?

TC: I love that Elections Canada is doing that. I like that they’re having direct conversations with the platforms. The platforms have committed to try to monitor this. How? I’m not overly confident, unfortunately.

I think that this is good news that they’re trying to address this, especially when you’re talking about foreign interference, but we know that the algorithms that drive these platforms push misinformation and it’s important to note that sometimes the misinformation isn’t necessarily that overt.

It might just be a social media influencer that is pushing a conspiracy theory about a particular issue that’s relevant to the to the election. That’s not going to be necessarily caught by the platforms even if they are being vigilant.

I think it’s really incumbent on Canadians to step up and do the very best they can to monitor their own social media diet. The good news is that entities like Elections Canada are creating resources and they have information there about emerging topics. So that’s good news.

Also, go to a variety of different sources. Whenever you see an issue emerge, make sure that you have a diverse media diet. That is another way that you can kind of protect yourself against the bunk.

MH: If it is the government is keeping an eye on things, and were to rely on the platforms, are there any other organizations or academics out there who are keeping an eye on this and may play a role?

TC: There are groups like Media Smarts, the group that I work with, Science Up First, will also be tackling the issues that are emerging during the election.

Good advice is to be patient. Sometimes an issue will emerge, and it’ll be an exciting headline and you kind of internalize it and share it.

Make sure that if you feel like something is playing to your rage, playing to your grievances, if it feels like your team just scored a touchdown, all of those kinds of emotional responses should be actually a red flag to pause and to double check the veracity of the claims.