Unlike US, Canada plans coordinated attack on foreign election interference

Ahead of the October election, Canada finds itself on the front lines of the war on disinformation and hacking.

Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election rattled America’s next-door neighbor so badly that Canada spent the last three years developing the most detailed plan anywhere in the Western world to combat foreign meddling in its upcoming election.But with the country’s national campaign to begin in a matter of weeks, one question remains: Will the efforts pay off?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government passed new transparency rules last year for online political ads that run on platforms including Facebook and Twitter — further than what’s required in the U.S. It ordered the country’s usually tight-lipped intelligence services to go public about foreign threats. Canada also housed a G-7 project to share the latest intelligence between allies about possible foreign disinformation and created a non-partisan group to warn political parties and the public about outside interference.

The country finds itself on the front lines of a global battle to tackle foreign election interference on social media, other platforms for political advertising and hacking of political databases — and lessons from its upcoming nationwide vote will prove essential for U.S. policymakers already fearful that next year’s presidential campaign will see another round of digital tricks aimed at swaying potential voters and underlying democratic institutions.

Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/09/04/canada-foreign-election-meddling-1698209