Hundreds of fake X accounts in Quebec are actively ‘misinforming and intimidating’ the public

Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon commented on the disinformation trend on Twitter, in a post on the social media platform yesterday. Plamondon drew a line between disinformation via hundreds of fake X accounts in Quebec, bot farms being used to generate praise for rallies held by federal Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, and a Montreal company and Canadian influencers being caught by the U.S. Department of Justice after being paid by Russia to publish pro-Conservative, pro-Trump propaganda.

“There are several hundred fake accounts operating in Quebec right now with the goal of misinforming and intimidating. This is not the work of a few volunteers, given the size of the operation. Recently, a Pointe-Claire company was the subject of arrest warrants in the United States. Pierre Poilievre was recently caught in connection with an operation involving fake accounts that all held the same discourse. We must therefore also get to the bottom of things to determine whether we are dealing with Criminal Code violations.”

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante thanked Plamondon for raising the issue, saying, “There are active bot farms in Quebec. This contributes to the deterioration of public discourse, particularly on X/Twitter.”

Il y a plusieurs centaines de faux-comptes qui opèrent au Québec présentement dans le but de désinformer et d’intimider. Ceci n’est pas l’œuvre de quelques bénévoles, vu la taille de l’opération. Récemment, une entreprise de Pointe-Claire a fait l’objet de mandats d’arrestation… https://t.co/uisjy6VTi8

— Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (@PaulPlamondon) September 25, 2024

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