Canadian Government creates a tasks force to combat Fake News in upcoming election

OTTAWA – The federal government is unveiling a "sweeping series" of new measures aimed at further shoring up Canada's electoral system from foreign interference, and enhancing Canada's readiness to defend the democratic process from cyber threats and disinformation.

This includes spelling out how Canadians will be informed about serious meddling attempts during the campaign. In order to meet the threshold for the five-person group of senior bureaucrats to go public about these attempts, they must be considered "disruptive" and seen to have an impact on Canada's ability to hold a free and fair election.

Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan are unveiling these next steps, with the next federal election just nine months away.

A senior official speaking with reporters on background prior to the ministers' announcement said the "sweeping series" of new measures are the result of "unprecedented" collaboration between Canada's national and cyber security bodies, intelligence agencies, and federal departments including Global Affairs Canada.

Among what's new:

-A security and foreign-focused Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, to prevent "covert, clandestine, or criminal" attempts to interfere in elections;

-A new campaign for citizen-literacy about misinformation online;

-A restated expectation that social media platforms crack down on disinformation and enhance their transparency;

-Advising political parties about enhancing their security and offering classified threat briefings to senior party leadership’

-A new cross-department senior level "Critical Election Incident Public Protocol" to inform Canadians during a campaign period about meddling attempts in an impartial way; and

Activating the "rapid response mechanism" at Global Affairs to identify, respond, and share information about threats.

The "rapid response mechanism" was a new initiative that Canada signed on to at the G7 meeting in Charlevoix. It was part of a multi-pronged commitment on defending democracy from foreign threats. It will include monitoring foreign social media activity to look at trends and identify where Canada might be vulnerable.

These measures are in addition to ongoing efforts to secure Canada’s electoral system, such as: passing Bill C-76 prohibits foreign spending; working with Elections Canada to prevent voting infrastructure from being hacked; and, collaborating with social media companies on plans to combat fake news and disinformation from interfering with public opinion during the campaign.

Bill C-76 also gave Canada’s Elections Commissioner new powers to conduct investigations into election interference, and compels social media platforms to create databases of their advertising during the campaign.

The Communications Security Establishment will also be publishing an update to its report on cyber threats to Canada’s democratic process — including threats to political parties, politicians, and media — in the coming months.

www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/feds-unveil-plan-to-tackle-fake-news-interference-in-2019-election-1.4274273