Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino gets up during the question-and-answer session on Monday, February 21, 2022 in Ottawa. Canada is on high alert for Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at confusing and deceiving people, says Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino. Mendicino says Canada is using all the tools at its disposal to detect cyber-fraud by Russia and to weaken its impact. CANADIAN PRESS / Adrian Wyld Canada is on high alert for state-sponsored Russian misinformation campaigns aimed at confusing and deceiving people, says Public Security Minister Marco Medicino. In an interview, he said Russia was a militant and hostile player in spreading cybercrime, but he was confident Canada was at the top of the problem. He warned that his government was preparing for Russian retaliation in cyberspace for Canada, which supports Ukraine’s fight against aggression by Vladimir Putin’s military. “Canada and all its allies remain vigilant against Russian retaliation in the form of misinformation and foreign interference,” he said. On Wednesday, Canada’s cyber-espionage service posted an update on Twitter about the Russian-backed misinformation it is monitoring. The Communications Security Foundation said the Kremlin was using anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-immigration and anti-globalization platforms to manipulate the global public. The watchdog, which monitors and decrypts signal information, including Internet activity, has revealed that Russia is spreading lies about Canada’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine using means of control. The Kremlin’s false narratives include distorted images of members of the Canadian Armed Forces in Ukraine and false allegations that Canadian soldiers are committing war crimes. Mendicino said Canada was a world leader in tackling such threats and, with its allies, was using all the tools at its disposal to detect cyberbullying by Russia and weaken its impact. His comments come after the government allocated $ 28 million to the budget to combat misinformation within Canada and by foreign actors such as Russia, China and Iran. “Russia is a well-known warring and hostile factor in this area. So are other state actors and that is why we remain vigilant,” he said. Medicino said the revelation of lies – including Putin’s claim that the invasion of Ukraine was designed to destabilize the country – was a crucial first step in undermining the impact of misinformation. He added that Canada was working “very closely” with its G7 partners and the Five Eyes – an intelligence alliance between Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and the United States – to combat misinformation. which, he said, is used to undermine democracies. worldwide. More than $ 13 million in the budget will be used to renew and expand the G7 Rapid Reaction Mechanism designed to detect and detect foreign interference and misinformation provided by the state. Further funding will help fight Canadian government confidence-building efforts, including $ 10 million “to coordinate, develop and implement government-wide measures designed to combat misinformation and protect our democracy. ». Medicino warned that the misinformation was being used by extremist groups, including white defenders, to undermine confidence in the Canadian government. The bigots are fueling hatred by spreading lies about Jews, Muslims and other minority groups, he said, often sucking people who have other grievances. “One of the most destructive aspects of misinformation is how it can attract people who may be very tired and frustrated with different things and lead them to a much more miserable and extremist goal,” he said. Mendicino says the tactics to deliberately deceive people and distort the truth were used by some of the leaders of the so-called Freedom Rally that occupied the streets of downtown Ottawa for three weeks. He said the lessons to be learned from the blockade include “how misinformation has been used as a tactic to confuse people and undermine their confidence in democracy”. He said misinformation, which has been on the rise for years, is “divisive and polarizing”, although some of the untruths circulating “sound absurd at times”. “The notion that Canada had become a dictatorship is as far to the left as you can get to before the wall,” he said. “But that happened.” Mendicino said the pandemic had created fertile ground for misinformation, noting that what he said was “a very deliberate campaign to spread the word about vaccines”. The minister said that not only should untruths be told, but the government should educate people so that they can detect material designed to deceive them. He said that social media platforms have a key role to play in highlighting misinformation.
