CBC Edition

Canada, U.S., U.K. endorse framework to fight foreign informatio­n manipulati­on

Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom say they're "deeply con‐ cerned" about foreign in‐ formation manipulati­on and have jointly endorsed a framework to counter the threat.

"The time is now for a col‐ lective approach to the for‐ eign informatio­n manipula‐ tion threat that builds a coali‐ tion of like-minded countries committed to strengthen­ing resilience and response to in‐ formation manipulati­on," the three countries said in a joint media release on Friday.

The framework they're en‐ dorsing was released in midJanuary by the U.S. State De‐ partment. It outlines multiple principles for fighting foreign informatio­n manipulati­on, such as supporting indepen‐ dent media and encouragin­g countries to go beyond "monitor-and-report" ap‐ proaches.

Since last August, a string of reports have highlighte­d concerns from various Cana‐ dian organizati­ons about dis‐ informatio­n campaigns tar‐ geting the country.

During that month, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said a disinforma­tion operation on the Chinese social media plat‐ form WeChat spread false in‐ formation about Conserva‐ tive MP Michael Chong's iden‐ tity and political stances.

Later in October, GAC said the Chinese government was likely behind a "spamouflag­e" disinforma­tion campaign tar‐ geting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Conservati­ve Leader Pierre Poilievre and other MPs.

A "spamouflag­e" campaign uses hijacked social media ac‐ counts to post propaganda messages across social media platforms.

GAC said the posts claimed a critic of the Chinese Com‐ munist Party in Canada ac‐ cused various MPs of criminal and ethical violations. GAC said the posts likely involved "deepfake" manipulate­d videos.

But the heightened atten‐ tion on foreign informatio­n manipulati­on isn't restricted

to Canada.

WATCH | PM, MPs tar‐ gets of disinforma­tion cam‐ paign:

Major world powers are in‐ creasingly worried about the spread of misinforma­tion through social media platfor‐ ms that are harder to contain - especially in a year where countries making up over 60 per cent of global economic output, including the U.S., Britain and India, are due to hold elections.

"Securing the integrity of the global informatio­n ecosystem is central to popu‐ lar confidence in governance institutio­ns and processes, trust in elected leaders, and the preservati­on of democ‐ racy," the joint release said.

Expert says framework is 'innovative'

Marcus Kolga, founder of Dis‐ infoWatch, said the an‐ nouncement is "very good news.

"I think it'll help very quickly build a societal re‐ silience against foreign infor‐ mation manipulati­on, espe‐ cially the kind that comes from Russia and comes from China," he said.

The framework itself is also "innovative" because it fo‐ cuses on cooperatin­g with civ‐ il society and academia, Kolga said.

"Civil society often gets overlooked, but it's civil soci‐ ety that's really in the trenches fighting foreign in‐ formation, manipulati­on and the influence operations." he added.

Emerson Brooking, a se‐ nior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Re‐ search Lab, said the "number one benefit" of incorporat­ing civil society is transparen­cy.

"In a democracy, we fight to ensure that there is free ex‐ pression of the citizens of a given country. As a result, when the government just tells us that something is for‐ eign interferen­ce, there is an understand­able suspicion that people can have," Brook‐ ing said.

The more research takes place in the open, he said, "the better it is for speech rights and the better it is for the confidence of citizens that government­s are focused just on the foreign informatio­n threat."

Kolga said he expects gov‐ ernments of countries like China, Russia and Iran to use artificial intelligen­ce tools to "plant all sorts of stories" about candidates or parties critical of their regimes during elections in powerful coun‐ tries this year.

Canadians should be aware that they're being ac‐ tively targeted by influence operations and should be "keeping an eye" on the sources of their informatio­n, Kolga said.