The Liberals tried to censor a 2021 Toronto Sun column critical of the government and Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s office said it played “no role” in the attempted censorship.. Twitter Office SignTwitter office sign .For the second day, the Liberals would not release the name of the person who told Facebook to delete the links to the newspaper story..“I can confirm neither I nor any other staff member of the minister’s office made this request, nor did we have any knowledge of it,” said Alexander Cohen, press secretary to Mendicino..In an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the Commons, Cabinet said that on Sept. 27, 2021, an unidentified “director of communications” demanded Facebook and Twitter delete links to a Sun article written the previous day by columnist Lorne Gunter regarding immigration policy..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Mendicino was the immigration minister at the time. Cohen was his press secretary..The immigration department had a separate director of communications, Marjolaine Provost..A second “director of communications” was paid by the Immigration and Refugee Board, Aarin Masson. The Board has refused all comment..The Inquiry said the nameless official ordered Facebook and Twitter to “remove/unpublish social media posts” linked to the Sun column, falsely claiming it had “serious errors of fact (that risk) undermining public confidence in the independence of the Immigration and Refugee Board as well as the integrity of the refugee determination system.” .Facebook and Twitter refused..The column was based on a leaked Board memo that proposed broadening guidelines to permit more refugees into Canada without first seeking Parliament’s approval..“The Board asked my editors to ‘correct’ or pull my column, which the editors courageously refused to do,” Gunter wrote Wednesday..“When that route failed, we have now learned, the then-director of communications for the Board approached the big social media platforms to ask that they take down any posting of my column and prohibit users from linking to it.”.The incident followed repeated federal complaints that legal internet content deemed hurtful must be regulated.. Facebook signFacebook sign .Unregulated tweets and Facebook posts “undermine Canada’s social cohesion or democracy,” said a June 16, 2021, department of Canadian Heritage briefing note Regulation of Social Media Platforms..The heritage department also issued a 2021 booklet for reporters called Guiding Principles of Diversity of Online Comment (GPDOC) that urged measures against “disinformation and misinformation” for the sake of “social cohesion.” It did not elaborate..Media must “foster greater exposure to diverse cultural content, information and news” and “contribute to a healthier public discourse, greater social inclusion within society, bolster resilience to disinformation and misinformation and increase our citizens’ ability to participate in democratic processes,” said the GPDOC..The GPDOC defined misinformation as “false or misleading content shared without harmful intent though the effects can still be harmful, e.g. when people share false information with friends and family in good faith.”
