Gov. announces $1.2m in misinformation research funding

The federal government Wednesday announced that the department of Canadian Heritage would be contributing some $1.2 million to a number of different initiatives around the country aimed at combating misinformation and disinformation. The money will be spread across 16 different projects selected following a call-for-proposals from the Digital Citizen Contribution Program (DCCP). In announcing the funding projects, Canadian Heritage also announced a fresh call-for-proposals to be funded through the DCCP, this time for a $1.5 million chunk of funding, and the announcement comes six months after the last announcement of funding. "In order to make informed decisions in our democracy, Canadians need to have access to the tools to identify disinformation and be able to express themselves freely without the fear of violence," Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said in a release. "These projects work toward achieving this goal and we will continue our work to make the Internet a safer and more inclusive space for everyone.” The 16 projects will, according to the announcement, "evaluate the efficacy of efforts by platforms to counter disinformation and other online harms, understand the role of non-news and alternative media sources of disinformation, or identify the behavioural and psychological underpinnings of the spread of disinformation and other harmful content in the Canadian context." Amongst the recipients are research programs housed at several universities, including Concordia University, McGill University, the University of British Columbia, the Université de Moncton, Toronto Metropolitan University, and the University of Waterloo. Researchers at Concordia will examine the role of the so-called "alt-right" in gaming culture, while the project at McGill University will "build an evidence-based risk assessment model to hold platform companies accountable for the range of harms and risks users experience on their services" by conducting audits of user safety on various platforms. One of two programs funded at UBC will examine online harassment of journalists, while another will apply "a framework for understanding and implementing global platform governance" in a Canadian context. Two programs at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson University) will study social media, with one looking at the spread of vaccine misinformation on TikTok, and another undertaking a randomized control study of misinformation warnings and labels on social media platforms. A number of other programs will look at the spread of hateful content directed towards racialized people and ethnic minorities in Canada, with research to be undertaken by civil society organizations. The release also said that the Government plans to table its long-awaited online harms legislation in "early 2023." -Reporting by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca and editing by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca

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Gov. announces $1.2m in misinformation research funding

News | January 11, 2023

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