Northern Ontario MP calls for investigation into Elon Musk over potential election interference

A northern Ontario MP is calling for Elections Canada to investigate potential interference by Elon Musk and his social media platform.

Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus is calling on Elections Canada to launch an investigation into Elon Musk and his social media platform X, he said he is concerned about potential interference by the tech billionaire in the next federal election.

In a two-page letter to Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, Angus said Musk has been playing a role in recent elections in a variety of countries, donating millions of dollars to conservative candidates and using X, formerly Twitter, to amplify the political messages of candidates he favours.

“He has formed alliances with right-wing populist leaders, amplified extremist influencers and spread hate disinformation towards marginal groups,” Angus wrote.

Concerns over X’s influence

Angus wrote that Musk is now getting involved in Canadian politics, “praising the current leader of the Conservative Party, aligning himself with far-right influencers and their platforms and criticizing the current prime minister.”

Musk, one of the world’s richest people, was born in South Africa but lives in the United States where he holds citizenship. However, his mother is from Saskatchewan and Musk moved to Canada in 1989, attending Queen’s University for two years.

Angus wrote that X “serves as a pathway for Russian misinformation and the rise of hate and threats in Canada. Given X’s huge power, any overt efforts by Mr. Musk to support a particular party or leader could easily impact our electoral integrity.”

Angus called on Perrault to launch an investigation into X “and possible avenues for manipulation by Mr. Musk or right-wing influencers,” though he did not name anyone else in the letter.

The northern Ontario MP is also insisting that during the upcoming federal election campaign that Musk commit to transparency of the algorithms used on his platform to allow election observers to see whether X is interfering by promoting or suppressing political posts.

Angus’s letter comes only weeks after Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg announced that his social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram would move away from fact-checking in the U.S. and would ease content restrictions worldwide – something experts say could make it easier for online misinformation and foreign interference to influence the next Canadian election.

In a recent interview, Angus said what he sees on other platforms is concerning but his letter targeted X because he believes Musk’s apparent willingness to use X’s algorithm to intervene in other countries’ affairs makes him the biggest threat currently.

Angus said if Parliament had not been prorogued, he would call for committee hearings into the issue.

Spokespeople for Elections Canada have said it is up to the Commissioner of Canada Elections office to conduct investigations and enforce the Canada Elections Act, rather than Elections Canada – however, they did say that Elections Canada does take questions about foreign interference seriously.

Angus said he sent the letter to Elections Canada because he decided it was the more suitable office.