For all of his predictable bluster, the odds of Donald Trump actually ordering military action against Canada are still vanishingly small. But the odds of him and his administration trying to influence our politics through other means, whether that’s digital disinformation campaigns on social media or direct interference in Alberta’s separatism debate, are probably as high as they’ve ever been. That’s why, although the Carney Liberals have already pledged to beef up our military spending and procurement, they have to move even faster to reinforce our digital defences. 

According to recent reporting, that might include finding a way to get Meta to reverse its ban on Canadian news. As tech journalist Carmi Levy told the CBC, “the absence of news content on platforms like Facebook and Instagram for the last two and a half years has essentially thrown fuel on the fire of disinformation.” Finding a way to get more Canadian news back into more Canadian social media feeds would seem to be a good idea, especially in light of the growing threat posed by an American administration that’s more than happy to wield disinformation as a weapon. 

But we can’t rely on social media platforms whose algorithms reward virality over veracity........

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