Federal officials warn of disinformation risk tied to election debates

This composite image made from five file photos shows, from left to right, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet on March 23, 2025; NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on March 22, 2025; Liberal Leader Mark Carney on March 23, 2025; Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on March 23, 2025; and co-Leader of the Green Party Elizabeth May on March 23, 2025. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi, Justin Tang, Adrian Wyld)

OTTAWA — Voters should be on the lookout for online disinformation tied to the election debates this week, federal officials said Monday.

Federal party leaders will square off in a televised French-language debate Wednesday and an English-language one on Thursday.

Canadians head to the polls for a general election on April 28.

There is typically an increase in online activity around the time of leaders’ debates, said Laurie-Anne Kempton, assistant secretary to the cabinet for communications.

Kempton told a media briefing on election security Monday that most of this activity is legitimate political discussion and a key part of the democratic process.

She warned, however, that election debates can be exploited by people making false claims that are circulated widely.

For example, in September 2024 a post on the social media platform X falsely claimed that one presidential candidate in the United States wore an earpiece during a debate.

The post gained eight million views, spread to Facebook and was shared thousands of times, Kempton said.

“This is what we call disinformation, which is false information that is deliberately intended to mislead the reader,” she said. “The general purpose of threat actors using disinformation tools is to disrupt, sow discord, undermine trust in democracy and influence public opinion and voter decisions.”

Kempton said threat actors sometimes spread disinformation to support a specific agenda; she cited the Kremlin’s use of disinformation in its war on Ukraine. Sometimes, she added, the goal is to amplify divisions in society by hitting hot-button issues.

Bad actors can post misleading images and audio, use fake accounts and bots to amplify content, manipulate algorithms and pay social influencers to spread disinformation.

“If enough people react to a post, the disinformation takes on a life of its own,” Kempton said.

“The online space is particularly vulnerable to disinformation as many of the most reliable sources of information are absent. This increases the likelihood that Canadians could encounter disinformation that is being shared within their networks wittingly or unwittingly.”

Federal officials have learned over the years that adversaries who want to sow doubt and confusion build on “existing cleavages and conflicts within society,” said Allen Sutherland, assistant secretary to the cabinet for democratic institutions.

Larisa Galadza, a senior official in the international security and political affairs branch at Global Affairs Canada, cited differing opinions on immigration as a ripe target for exploitation.

“A foreign actor would see the opportunity to polarize by throwing extreme opinions into the mix on comment pages and then potentially using the technology that they have to amplify that rapidly,” she told the briefing.

This report by Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press, was first published April 14, 2025.