OTTAWA — Allegations that Beijing is interfering in Canada’s election could be an opportunity to improve the public’s understanding of misinformation, says the European Union’s (EU) communications officer for foreign interference.

Lutz Guellner, who oversees the EU foreign ministry’s work on strategic communications, was in Ottawa last week as part of a collaboration with a G7 task force trying to counter threats to democracy.

“The most important thing is awareness; it’s the top priority, he said in an interview last week. This public discussion is absolutely crucial.”

The initiative specifically addresses the manipulation of foreign information, ie willful disinformation originating in a foreign country, as part of a state’s broader strategy of meddling in affairs.

“Our Canadian colleagues have been taking this very seriously for years. They have built a very good infrastructure to hold the G7 together in this area because it is becoming more and more important.”

The effort became more urgent following Russia’s sweeping invasion of Ukraine last year.

“We don’t see so much that we see a lot more (propaganda) quantitatively, but that new tactics, new techniques, new procedures are being used,” said Güellner.

He explained that opponents clone websites by using manipulated screenshots or creating website addresses that look like the websites they are impersonating, but with a slightly different address and fake information.

“It’s a great way to reach an audience that is being exposed to this content without even knowing it,” commented the expert.

Go through non-traditional channels

In addition, countries have used their embassies abroad to spread messages that the host countries tried to suppress.

Last week, investigative news site Bellingcat revealed that a video allegedly showing Ukrainian soldiers harassing a Russian-speaking woman was filmed on Russian-held territory.

The video was posted by the Russian embassy in the UK on social media, which Guellner says is part of a trend with Russian embassies posting content that wouldn’t go through traditional channels, such as videos from the RT channel, which countries are facing because of the spread forbidden from lying .

According to him, the Chinese embassies’ social media have sometimes reflected the scenarios that Moscow is trying to propose, but in a selective way.

In the case of Russia, the goal is to turn people away from the idea of ​​objective truth, to sow chaos and distrust of institutions such as the media.

“Disinformation is not just about spreading false news… it can also lead to misleading, distracting and eroding trust,” Güellner said.

He explains that Europeans met the challenge in three main ways. First, by building resilience, including funding the media, fact-checking organizations, and educational initiatives, particularly in terms of how to identify common tactics for amplifying those narratives.

For example, the EUvsDisinfo campaign in Brussels publishes daily content verifying Russian posts and provides a platform for non-governmental groups to share opportunities to test claims appearing in disinformation campaigns.

This involves more frequent messaging than Global Affairs Canada, which occasionally reviews reports from pro-Kremlin media outlets, to which the Russian embassy in Ottawa frequently responds with its own fake news allegations.

Regulation is the European Union’s second main line of action to combat disinformation. It’s about giving tech giants a duty to mitigate the risk of misinformation and uncovering campaigns from abroad, without governments finding out what’s fact and what’s not.

“Our challenge is to balance our very, very important value of upholding freedom of expression – not manipulating it, not compromising it in any way – while not falling into the trap of our openness becoming an issue will,” said Mr. Guellner.

The third is diplomatic engagement, working with like-minded countries to compare the phenomenon and the tools that work. Guellner said his visit to Ottawa touched on everything from artificial intelligence to the impact of information manipulation on security in regions like Africa.

“We have not yet brought these different strands together,” Guellner said of the three approaches. According to him, there is no single remedy, we need to see the solution more comprehensively.

A useful public debate

He points out that Canada is a key player in researching disinformation from countries trying to interfere in democracies. But he thinks Canadians could be better informed on how to spot fake news. More could also be done to inform the public.

Mr. Guellner does not think Canada is behind. “We feel very close to Canada’s position because we’ve always wanted to strike a good balance between protecting freedom of expression while doing something that really makes a difference.”

He said the most important thing for Canada is an informed population that understands the techniques and methods of disinformation, the actors behind it, and the nuance that disinformation is often more about context than glaring inaccuracies.

Media literacy groups like MediaSmarts have attempted to address this issue, including through testimonies from MPs investigating foreign interference. However, these committee appearances were largely overshadowed by immediate concerns about the activities of foreign diplomats in Canada.

Güellner says public awareness is particularly important amid allegations of Beijing meddling in Canadian elections, and Ottawa has accused Russia and Iran of trying to do so.

He stressed that any public debate makes it possible to raise our awareness of this problem.