A task force that monitors security and intelligence threats to Canadian elections says there has been some foreign interference, but not enough to prevent a "free and fair election."
However, a panel said the activity Chinese-language social media app WeChat "is not affecting Canada's ability to have a free and fair election." The "information operation" is also "contained to one platform and has not spread further, nor is it affecting Canadians鈥� abilities to make an informed decision about their vote."
The federal government held its third media briefing Monday (April 7) in Ottawa with the Critical Election Incident Public Protocol Panel, which is informed by the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force.
The task force noticed an "information operation" targeting the Canadian general election through WeChat. It says the "information operation" was launched by Youli-Youmian, the app's most popular news account, and the account is reportedly linked to the PRC Chinese Communist Party鈥檚 Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
The content being shared reportedly contains information about Mark Carney, who is prime minister, Liberal Party of Canada leader and a candidate in Nepean in Ontario.
The task force says it observed "large spikes of coordinated inauthentic behaviour preceding the election campaign" on March 10, and then again after the election was called on March 25. After "increasing levels of engagement" on WeChat, the Liberal Party was briefed on April 6.
The task force will be discussing the issue with Tencent, the developer of the app, to raise the concerns.
