Photo: Valérian Mazataud Le Devoir “It’s clear that there are elements of concern in these messages on social media. [Pierre Poilievre] needs to respond,” said NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, seen here in late July.
Léo Mercier-Ross
Published at 16:38 Updated at 17:05
- Canada
The New Democratic Party (NDP) is accusing the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) of using troll farms to “create a false sense of momentum for Pierre Poilievre in Northern Ontario,” according to a statement released Tuesday by the NDP. Following the Conservative leader’s visit to Kirkland Lake, hundreds of accounts on the X platform posted extremely similar messages, all offering their support for Mr. Poilievre.
The NDP says in the statement that it has “noticed that the X platform has been flooded with messages from people claiming to have attended Pierre Poilievre’s recent event in Kirkland Lake, Ontario.”
“I just got back from Pierre Poilievre's rally in Kirkland Lake and I'm still reeling from the energy! As a northern Ontarian, it's refreshing to see a leader who truly understands our unique challenges,” one post reads in English.
According to the observations of Devoir, the hundreds of messages differ slightly from each other, while maintaining an identical structure. According to these publications, their authors were all present in Kirkland Lake during the gathering, loved it and all come from northern Ontario.
Photomontage: Le Devoir | Screenshots
However, according to the information on the profiles of the authors of the publications, they come from the four corners of the world. “The messages have identical wording and were generated by accounts claiming to come from Russia, France and elsewhere,” says the NDP.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The “firms to troll” are groups, generally foreign, which hold a large quantity of fake accounts on various platforms and which can thus use them to spread information – or an opinion – quickly.
Charlie Angus, the NDP MP for Timmins – James Bay, believes in the press release that “Conservatives must explain why these foreign troll farms are being used to influence Canadian voters in favor of Mr. Poilievre.” According to him, this “could be a worrying practice for what Mr. Poilievre's machine has in store for the next federal election.”
“The CCP does not pay for robots”
In an email, Sarah Fischer, the Conservative Party’s communications director, stated that “the CPC does not pay for the bots and has no idea who is behind these accounts.” She noted that “the same type of bot accounts are also promoting the Prime Minister” and that “we remain very concerned about any foreign interference and call on the government to disclose anything it may know.” “It’s no surprise that the NDP is once again spreading baseless conspiracy theories,” Fischer counters.
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For his part, Jagmeet Singh announced at a press briefing in Yellowknife on Tuesday that the NDP will file a request for an investigation with Elections Canada and the Ethics Commissioner on Wednesday. “It’s clear that there are elements that are concerning in these messages on social networks. [Pierre Poilievre] must respond.”
The possibility that a third-party organization is responsible is not lost on the NDP leader, who remains concerned about the situation. “We need to have an investigation, we need to know if it was another organization or foreign interference.”
At a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, Conservative MP Luc Berthold said that the use of bot accounts is “a conspiracy theory that has no place.” “We don’t need bots to attract crowds, Pierre Poilievre is more than enough to attract people to his rallies,” said the MP for Mégantic — L’Érable.
As for the issue of foreign interference raised by these foreign bots, Mr. Berthold recalled that the CPC has a “zero tolerance policy on foreign interference.”