The Digital Democracy Project is a joint initiative led by the Public Policy Forum and the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University.
The project aims at better understanding and ultimately developing policy options to address the challenges posed by disinformation and hate online. The project has three distinct phases:
- Media Training and Coordination
- Research and Analysis of the Canadian Media Ecosystem
- Policy Development
Phase One: Media Training and Coordination
PPF hosted a two-day media workshop on disinformation in May 2019. The workshop was organized in partnership with First Draft and included a series of presentations by ten globally recognized experts in their field. It brought together approx. 75 participants, including 50 Canadian journalists representing traditional and digital newsrooms from across Canada. Journalists were introduced to the scale of the disinformation challenge, the impact it has had on previous elections (incl. in Brazil and Europe), and global best practices. Following the workshop, PPF established and coordinated a network of journalists with which to communicate the findings from phase two.
Phase Two: Research and Analysis of the Canadian Media Ecosystem
The Max Bell School and collaborators researched the Canadian media ecosystem in the build up to last October’s federal election in Canada to analyze the spread and impact of disinformation. The researchers monitored digital and social media and conducted both regular national surveys and a study of a metered sample of online consumption. The preliminary findings were released publicly from August to October 2019 in the form of seven distinct research memos. To support real-time media coverage, the memos were shared with the project’s network of journalists and discussed in biweekly webinars. The study culminated in a final report published in May 2020.
Phase Three: Policy Development
This phase will be officially launched in May 2020. While under the Digital Democracy Project umbrella, phase three will have its own distinct identity: the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression. This will center on a small deliberative Commission, which will study the challenges posed by the digital economy on Canadian democracy, including online disinformation and hate, and to develop specific policies to address those challenges. The Commission’s work will be informed by multiple work streams, including a 42-person representative Citizen’s Assembly and original research program. The Commission will publish policy recommendations each year for three years, beginning in March 2021.
Articles
Lessons in Resilience: Canada’s Digital Media Ecosystem and the 2019 Election
Canada's 2019 federal election provided a unique opportunity to investigate mis/ disinformation. The Digital Democracy Project looked at 12 threats to citizens' online sources of information to uncover how resilient Canadians' are in the face of disinformation. Read the main findings to better understand polarization and about online media bubbles in which Canadians live.
DDP Research Memo #7: The Partisan Playground
The final DDP election-period report finds that Canadians with partisan interests are more politically active, and less likely to engage with news that doesn't support their worldview. This is a potential source of vulnerability for the information environment.
DDP Research Memo #6: Political Advertising on Facebook
The DDP partnered with the Online Political Transparency Project to analyze the Facebook advertising landscape during the federal election campaign.
DDP Research Memo #5: Fact-Checking, Blackface and the Media
This report takes a closer look at the effectiveness of fact-checking and surveys reaction to the Trudeau blackface controversy on social media.
DDP Research Memo #4: Talking Past Each Other on Immigration
This report examines Canadians' opinions on immigration and their populist and nativist tendencies. It also surveys election candidates' use of social media across platforms.
DDP Research Memo #3: Polarization and its Discontents
This is the third of a series of DDP Research Memos that map the media ecosystem in the run-up to Canada's October 2019 federal election. It looks at whether Canadians are polarized and how that relates to the social media environment.
DDP Research Memo #2: The Climate Change Conundrum
This is the second of a series of DDP Research Memos that map the media ecosystem in the run-up to and during Canada's October 2019 federal election. It focuses on Canadians' perceptions of what is shaping up to be a key election issue: the environment, and especially climate change.
DDP Research Memo #1: Media, Knowledge and Misinformation
This is the first of a series of DDP Research Memos that map the media ecosystem in the run-up to and during Canada's October 2019 federal election. This memo provides an initial snapshot of the Canadian political media ecosystem.
