A Conservative candidate crucial of Hong Kong legal guidelines is the goal of a “transnational repression operation,” Canada’s election interference activity power stated on Monday.
The marketing campaign to discredit Joe Tay, who’s working for the Tories within the Toronto driving of Don Valley North, is going down on Fb and TikTok in addition to Chinese language-language social media platforms.
The Safety and Intelligence Threats to Elections Job Pressure stated the assaults featured mock needed posters depicting Tay together with disparaging headlines and commentary.
Manipulation of on-line engines like google was additionally getting used to disparage Tay, the panel advised reporters on the last information scheduled convention of the 2025 federal election.
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Tay is thought for his opposition to autocratic legal guidelines in Hong Kong, the place he’s needed by police together with different pro-democracy advocates.
Whereas engagement with the content material in query peaked in December 2024, the duty power stated it had elevated once more through the election marketing campaign and had been linked to Hong Kong authorities.
The duty power stated it had raised the difficulty with the social media corporations and “briefed the cleared consultant of the Conservative Celebration about this info operation.”
The “exercise isn’t affecting Canada’s means to have a free and honest election, together with on this driving,” it added.
Final month, Liberal candidate Paul Chiang apologized and give up after being broadly condemned for suggesting folks flip Tay in to say a bounty for his arrest.
The duty power stated the web marketing campaign was a part of “a sequence of acts designed to discredit a candidate, silence criticism and dissent, and manipulate info that informs voters.”
“Such on-line content material may be perceived as sending a wider warning to voters, who’re properly conscious of malign actors’ strategies of transnational repression, and will keep away from supporting their most well-liked candidate consequently.”
“This behaviour is named transnational repression, and it’ll not be tolerated,” it added.
“All Canadians needs to be conscious that there are safeguards in place to make sure everybody’s vote is secret and safe, and that it’s unlawful to vary a voter’s poll, or to interrupt the secrecy of the vote.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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