The Meta news ban, the downfall of Twitter and the rise of the Conservative Party of Canada

The Meta news ban, the downfall of Twitter and the rise of the Conservative Party of Canada

In June 2023, Canada’s most respected polling firm, Léger, released a study measuring support for the Liberals at 33%, two points ahead of the Conservatives, and even with their support in the 2021 federal election.

Two months later, following the passing of the Online News Act, Meta made the decision to block all news content in Canada on Facebook and Instagram.

By May 2024, the Liberals were polling at 23%, 10 points lower than they were one year earlier. The Conservatives increased support by 11 points during the same time period, from 31% to 42%.

A lot can happen in a year

After the Meta news ban went into effect in August 2023, Twitter, now known as X, became the #1 news app in Canada. Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022, the platform has become a far-right social network, where misinformation and hate speech are allowed to live and spread unchecked — something human rights groups like Amnesty International warned would happen. This evolution played a critical role in the re-election of Donald Trump.

While we already know that Canada’s mainstream media has a Conservative bias, their anti-Trudeau content grew exponentially as they sought to increase engagement on Twitter in an attempt to recoup the ad revenue they lost due to the Meta news ban. Tailoring content to a conservative audience in order to benefit from a right-wing algorithm encouraged the propagation of a false narrative that “Canada is broken,” and that the only person able to fix it is CPC leader Pierre Poilievre — a politician who a majority of Canadians dislike and whose net favourability sits at -18%. This narrative was further reinforced by a Russian disinformation operation that had been producing content with the purpose of “boosting support for Pierre Poilievre and undermining support for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.”

Canada isn’t broken

The constant disinformation and manufactured outrage about Canada and against Justin Trudeau helps to explain how the Conservatives are now projected to win a majority in the next election, despite Poilievre’s favourability being consistently poor. Canadians aren’t so much infatuated with the idea of Conservative leadership in the House of Commons — just 1 in 3 say they’re hopeful about a potential Poilievre government — as they are driven by rage-bait to vote against Trudeau.

Is Canada perfect? Of course not. No country is. Canada has faced a number of challenges over the past few years, including a housing and affordability crisis caused by increased inflation following the pandemic, as was the case in most economies around the world.

Inflation has been within the Bank of Canada’s target range throughout 2024, and interest rates have been cut for a fifth consecutive time. This year, Canada was also named the country with the most optimistic economic outlook and among the countries with the most freedom, not to mention one of the best countries in the world. And yet, like clockwork, positive news about Canada on Twitter is met with criticism, while negative news is celebrated.

Engagement on Twitter thrives on negativity

In order for the false narrative to succeed, any news that proves Canada isn’t “broken” needs to be discredited. Aside from outright lies, Pierre Poilievre and the CPC’s chief strategy is distortion: framing isolated incidents as evidence of a surging crime rate and a general deterioration of society — despite the fact that Canada’s been named among the safest countries in the world, as well as the second safest country in the world from violent crime.

None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following Canadian politics on Twitter, but it does show the lengths to which Elon Musk and the powers that be will use their influence to push false narratives to destabilize our society, stir up rage and fake Poilievre’s popularity ahead of the next election. Additionally, the number of bots and fake accounts on the platform is increasingly alarming.

Country before party

Canadian pride shouldn’t be contingent on who the prime minister is. The vast majority of Canadians say they’re proud to be Canadian, despite what the narrative on Twitter would have you believe. Interestingly, 82% of Canadians also oppose Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state — contrary to another false narrative being pushed on Twitter.

X is an overtly far-right platform that not only encourages divisive rage-bait with monetization, but forces the right-wing views of the company’s owner (including endorsements of Poilievre) onto everyone’s feed and allows bots and fake accounts of dubious origin and intent to proliferate — at whose service, we don’t know, and may never find out. Canadians should consider the platform as a potential source of foreign interference in our political realm, alongside (and potentially in concert with) the governments of Russia, China and India.

Just as fighting words from Donald Trump should unite Canadians against him, interference from X ought to inspire us to prioritize the integrity of our democracy over loyalty to any particular political party. With a federal election on the horizon, the time to call out this propaganda is now. ■

It’s high time Pierre Poilievre got his security clearance

“A large majority of Canadians — including 60% of Conservatives — want Pierre Poilievre to read the NSICOP report on how foreign interference has infiltrated Canadian politics.” https://t.co/MUZFyF65jm

— Cult MTL (@cultmtl) October 10, 2024

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