Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Russian disinformation in Canada has been an ongoing issue. The Russian government has an ongoing interest in interfering in Canadian politics using a variety of information operations, propaganda and disinformation.
Using publicly available datasets released a few years ago by Facebook and Twitter, I found that Russian trolls were the most invested in targeting Canada, far more than Iranian and other state-run trolls from China and Saudi Arabia were. These information operations were conducted with the use of carefully concealed social media users with the assistance of fake websites as well as news channels like RT, Russia Today and Sputnik.
For example, the Internet research agency, IRA, created fake Facebook pages and purchased ads often targeting Canadians in 2016 and even earlier. Fake websites like peacedata.net that seemed legitimate were also used like to spread favourable messages towards Russia. I also found in 2017 that Russian trolls even promoted a rally in Ottawa against the Liberal government.
In my research, the content analysis of social media messages clearly showed that the ideological position of the Russian government aligned well with far-right groups and individuals in Canada.
In my view, the main reason behind this information operation strategy is to sow division, create tension and confuse people about what is real or fake. For example, the main targets of Russian trolls were Liberals, especially due to their immigration policies, with a focus on attacking Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland. The second target is related to Canadian Muslims, with emphasis on visible minority MPs followed by other targets on issues like refugees, diversity and multiculturalism.
Today and due to the increasing pressure on traditional social media companies, the public activities of Russian trolls have been relatively curtailed, as there is some scrutiny and general awareness. The same applies to the way Russian state news outlets like RT have been flagged as promoters of disinformation and sometimes banned from operating. However, I personally think that the decision of the CRTC, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, to ban RT remains only symbolic and ineffective, because RT can be viewed in multiple other ways in Canada and elsewhere.
We can see today a different information strategy that uses Russian government diplomatic missions as its main means to spread propaganda. For example, the Russian embassy in Ottawa runs its own Twitter account as well as recent Telegram and VK public channels. The embassy has been active in spreading disinformation and promoting the Russian perspective on the events taking place in Ukraine. Instead of heavily relying on RT or Sputnik, the embassy mostly retweets messages from the Russian foreign affairs ministry and other Russian diplomatic accounts and missions from around the world as well as Russia's foreign allies like China.
Also, the embassy frequently posts statements attacking Canadian officials as well as national news media for what it views as biased attitudes towards the war in Ukraine. Any factual reporting on the war is considered fake news, and the term itself is weaponized by the Russian foreign affairs ministry to serve the interest of Putin's regime.
One of the most troubling features of this disinformation campaign by the Russian government is related to the weaponization of fact-checking practices. In a recent tweet, the embassy in Ottawa announced the launch of a new website called WarOnFakes.com, which attempts to give credibility to official Russian propaganda. The website allegedly provides fact-checking services with regard to the war in Ukraine and is offered in five languages: English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, denoting that the main targeted groups are non-Russian speaking audiences.
Finally, the embassy is trying to create a direct link with the Canadian public that cannot be blocked by the CRTC. For example, the embassy often sends direct messages to Canadians via its Telegram channel and Twitter account. In fact, more than 3,000 Twitter users who retweeted recent messages from the embassy are found to be Canadian users who were further spreading these messages.
Though the official and public focus has been on banning RT and Sputnik news channels, the reality is that Russian embassies are creating their own information ecosystem with the help of fake fact-checking websites like WarOnFakes.
The official Russian disinformation has evolved today to heavily rely on multiple sources, including the social media outlets of these diplomatic missions—