Description

The manipulation of public opinion over social media platforms is a critical concern of the 21st century. Over the past few years, there have been several attempts by foreign operatives, political parties, and populist movements to manipulate the outcome of elections by spreading disinformation, amplifying divisive rhetoric, and micro-targeting polarizing messages to voters. While the cyber element of election security has traditionally focused on securing ballot boxes or voter registration rolls, governments are increasingly concerned about the impact of harmful information on democratic outcomes. This panel will examine the global trends of social media manipulation, the legal and private self-regulatory responses currently being developed to address these challenges, who is trying to undermine Canadian elections, and what to expect during Canada’s 2019 elections.

Speakers’ Biographies

Samantha Bradshaw (CIC Senior Fellow and PhD candidate, Oxford University)

Samantha Bradshaw is a D.Phil. candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute and works on the Computational Propaganda Project as a core member of the research staff. Her dissertation examines government use of social media for coordinated digital disinformation campaigns. Samantha’s work has been featured by numerous media outlets, including the Washington Post, Bloomberg, and the Financial Times.

She holds an MA in global governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and a joint honours BA in political science and legal studies from the University of Waterloo.

Nicole Jackson (Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University, School for International Studies)

Nicole J. Jackson is Associate Professor International Studies, specializing in Russian and Eurasian Politics and Security at the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. She has authored multiple refereed articles and chapters on Russian and Central Asian security and foreign policy, regional security governance, securitization and trafficking, and the spread of authoritarian ideas and practices. She is author of Russian Foreign Policy and the CIS; Theories, Debates and Actions, (London and New York: Routledge, 2003) and most recently funded by SSHRC “NATO’s and Canada’s Responses to Russia since the Crimea Annexation of 2014: A Critical Literature Review”, Simons Papers in Security and Development, no.6, December 2017; “Canada, NATO and Global Russia”, International Journal, 2018 and “Outer Space on Russia’s Security Strategy” in ed. Kanet, Handbook on Russian Security, forthcoming 2019.

She is currently working on two projects. This first analyzes the role of Russia and global security governance focusing on the “global commons”, and the second examines NATO and Canadian approaches to hybrid warfare. Dr Jackson’s work links theory, empirical data, practice and policy. She holds an MSc and PhD (2001) from the London School of Economics and BA (hons) from University of Toronto (Trinity College).

Moderator: Heidi Tworek (CIC Executive Member and Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, History Department)

Dr. Heidi Tworek works on media, international organizations, and transatlantic relations. She is a member of the Science and Technology Studies program, the Language Science Initiative, and the Institute for European Studies at UBC. She is a visiting fellow at the Joint Center for History and Economics at Harvard University as well as a non-resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

Heidi is committed to bringing a historical sensibility to policy discussions. She has briefed or advised officials and policymakers from multiple European and North American governments on media, cybersecurity, democracy, and the digital economy. One of her projects in this area is an international comparison of policies on hate speech and disinformation.

Registration

Registration via Eventbrite

CIC Member Price: $7.00
CIC Student Member Price: $0.00
Non-Member Price: $15.00

Doors open at 6pm, event begins at 6:15.

Contact person: Brett Shearing – vancouver@thecic.org