NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and his party were targeted by a social media misinformation attack that appeared to come from outside Canada, the party’s national director told an inquiry into foreign interference on Thursday.
Lucy Watson said there had been a spike in recent weeks in the number of online posts of misinformation, such as a fake news story purporting to be from the Toronto Star that claimed Singh had been arrested on corruption charges.
“There are a number of posts like that that come across our desks on a regular basis,” Watson told reporters after his testimony.
Watson said his party believed the posts came from a foreign actor. He would not say which country was believed to be behind the posts.
“We don’t have any insight, that’s one of the challenges,” he said.
Watson said he was concerned online attacks could lead to real-world violence.
“The discourse we see online, which is growing in intensity, volume and rhetoric, is contributing to what we see in real life,” he said.
Watson said he is also concerned about the impact of misinformation on the next election if no action is taken.
“I have very serious concerns about what the next election is going to look like if we don’t take seriously the discourse that we see online and how that discourse translates into real life, in person,” he said.
“As a party, we will take steps to make sure that we prepare our candidates, that we train our campaign teams, so that they are equipped, to the extent possible, to meet some of those challenges.”
In giving evidence to the inquiry, Watson said there was a risk of foreign interference through disinformation and named it as one area where his party was vulnerable.
“We’ve seen bots, we’ve seen fake accounts, all of the things that are described in the various documents that have been filed with this commission,” Watson said. “We’ve seen all of that on our party accounts and on our leaders’ accounts.”
Watson said his party reported the posts to the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) task force, which was set up to monitor online disinformation, and to Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram. He added that it takes the social media giant an average of five to 10 days to respond and act.
When it comes to misinformation posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, “we can only respond to them if we can contact them,” he said. “We don’t have a contact name.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says sometimes you have to stand up to a bully. A video posted on social media shows Singh confronting protesters on Parliament Hill grounds this week after someone called him a “corrupt bastard.”
Watson said there was a period four to six weeks ago when the NDP was making complaints to Meta “almost every other day.”
While Watson said he believed the misinformation posts came from a foreign actor, under cross-examination he did not rule out the possibility that they originated within Canada.
Watson said NDP staff monitor misinformation but the party doesn’t have the resources to track everything that happens on social media. As a result, she said, the party doesn’t know how long a misinformation post might have been online and how much damage it might have caused.
Watson said the NDP wants to see tighter regulation of social media companies and an independent social media watchdog. The party also wants more support on cybersecurity, he said.
Watson’s comments come as the foreign interference inquiry turns its attention on Thursday to how political parties guard against foreign interference and whether they have the resources needed to identify it.
Throughout the day, the NDP, Green Party and Bloc Québécois answered questions about the steps they are taking to guard against foreign interference, such as verifying the identities of prospective members and donors and conducting background checks on candidates. They also outlined additional resources that can help them counter foreign influence.
On Friday, the inquiry is due to hear statements from representatives of the Liberal and Conservative parties.
