Trudeau government considers shutting down social media platforms that refuse to obey election interference demands

Liberal Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould suggested on Thursday in Le Journal de Montreal that the federal government is not ruling out the possibility of shutting down social media platforms unwilling to comply with its latest election interference demands.

Recently the federal government has called upon social media giants like Facebook, Google, Twitter and others to comply with a Declaration of Electoral Integrity intended on preventing any foreign interference in the upcoming federal election.

While Facebook and Google have agreed to the Canadian government’s demands, including banning political advertising on the former platform during the election period, Twitter has yet to commit to any measures.

“I think it’s obvious that Twitter is not taking this issue seriously.  Otherwise, they would have acted in a faster way,” said Gould about the platform.

The declaration, which was issued by the Liberal government in May 2019, calls upon online platforms to “intensify efforts to combat disinformation” and develop further links with the Canadian government.

“It’s something to see, but now I think the important thing is the pressure  from the Canadian public who asked for more information, more  transparency with these platforms,” ??said Gould about the possibility of temporarily shutting down a platform for not obliging with the declaration’s terms.

“I think it’s important for Canadians to be aware that Twitter has  essentially decided not to take responsibility for these activities, that Twitter is not committing to what they’ll do here in Canada. And quite frankly, we’re facing a time crunch,” said Gould.