Disinformation campaign against former MP Kenny Chiu a disturbing precedent, researchers say

January 8, 2022

 

Conservative MP Kenny Chiu rises during Question Hour in the House of Commons on April 13, 2021 in Ottawa. The Conservative Party believes Mr Chiu’s defeat in the 2021 election was linked to the campaign against him. Adrian Wilde/The Canadian Press

A disinformation campaign against a Conservative Party candidate during the 2021 election race is a disturbing demonstration of how propaganda tactics can be used by a hostile foreign, two researchers at McGill University say Actor for interfering in Canadian political system.

And they suggest that a countermeasure to discourage future propaganda efforts would be a public registry to track foreign influence, a mechanism similar to the one that former BC MP Kenny Chiu was attacked during campaigning. Was.

Mr Chiu’s proposal was criticized on Chinese-language social media during the 2021 federal election campaign, alleging that his plan would “oppress the Chinese community” in Canada. The comments were circulated on apps and websites widely used by some Canadians of Chinese descent, who make up nearly half of their riding population.

What is worrying, the authors say, is that “these tactics can be deployed in information and psychological warfare operations against any group.” “In short, it has a high potential for interference in Canada’s electoral process by foreign state actors and thus seriously threatens the country’s liberal democracy.”

Writing this month in Policy Options, a publication by Canada’s Institute for Research on Public Policy, Seiz-Fung Lee and Benjamin Fung say Canada needs to better protect itself from the propaganda campaigns that plague this country’s electoral can damage the process. Ms. Lee and Mr. Fung are experts in information warfare. Ms. Lee is a research assistant in the School of Information Studies at McGill University in Montreal, where Mr. Fung is Professor of Data Mining and Canada Research Chair for Cyber ​​Security.

Mr Chiu, a Canadian born in Hong Kong, was elected as a member of parliament in 2019 for the federal riding of Steveston-Richmond East in BC’s Lower Mainland, but was defeated in the 2021 election. 2016 census data indicates that the ethnic origin of the equestrian population is close to 50 percent Chinese.

The Conservative Party believed that Mr. Chiu’s defeat was linked to a campaigning campaign against him, but foreign affairs critic Michael Chong acknowledged that the evidence has so far been inconclusive.

This propaganda effort against Mr Chiu was documented in a recent November report by the Atlantic Council think tank’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).

DFRLab analyzed Chinese-language apps and anonymous articles circulating on websites like WeChat and Weibo, both of which were heavily used by some Canadians of Chinese descent who misrepresented a private member’s bill Which was introduced by Mr. Chiu in 2021.

The Foreign Influence Registry Act proposed by him was an effort inspired by similar Australian legislation. Canada’s Security Intelligence Service and other bodies have warned that countering foreign interference is a growing problem in Canada. It called for a registry where people acting on behalf of foreign governments or corporations must file notices when trying to influence public policy, contract or law in Canada. This exempted diplomats.

In late 2018, Australia implemented a “Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme” to track actions being taken by foreign governments and foreign state-owned enterprises, as well as individuals or political organizations affiliated with the countries. The United States Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has been in effect since 1938 and a similar registry is under consideration in the UK.

The election campaign attack on Mr. Chiu portrayed his registry proposal as an attempt to target all people of Chinese descent in Canada. An article on WeChat alleges, “Once this act becomes law, all individuals or groups associated with China may be treated as spokespersons of the Chinese government and will be required to specifically register “

It said that once the bill becomes law, “activities related to federations in mainland China, as well as normal Sino-Canadian economic, cultural and technological exchanges,” “will be suppressed” and have a “profound negative impact on the Chinese community.” Will have.”

The anonymous attacks also called Mr Chiu “anti-China” because he was a vocal critic of Beijing’s crackdown on discontent and protests in Hong Kong and because he supported a resolution condemning Chinese government repression in Xinjiang.

Ms. Lee and Mr. Fung said the propaganda is widespread throughout social media in expatriate Chinese communities and that a language barrier sometimes prevents Chinese expatriates from verifying what they read by crosschecking it with other Western media.

He said it was very difficult to prove who was behind the propaganda, but it was reasonable to say that “it is logical to speculate that whoever was responsible for the spread of fake news had to reframe the narrative in favor of Beijing’s interests.” There was a clear purpose of shaping from.”

McGill academics say the solution is to uncover the sources of influence on public debate in Canada. They say a useful countermeasure would be a mechanism similar to that advocated by Mr Chiu and the Conservative Party, and which was proposed by Alliance Canada Hong Kong, an umbrella group of Canadian human rights activists. This registry, outlined by the group, will be linked with a public commission to enforce compliance with the registry.