There is a new report from Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer, Greg Essensa, on addressing misinformation and disinformation threats to election administration. This report comes ahead of the scheduled 2026 provincial election and rumoured early 2025 election call.
We expressed our own concerns about the potential impacts of electoral administration trends including the spread of misinformation especially through the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in our recent submission, Modernizing the Municipal Elections Act for the 21st Century.
Highlighting the role of AI and social media in the spread of misinformation, the report includes findings from a number of sources about the potential impacts of AI, social media and the spread of information will have on society:
- Election Ontario’s Post-2022 Election survey suggests ~3/4 of electors believed, to some extent, that false information had an impact on the election outcome.
- The European Parliament predicts that up to 90% of online content could be AI-generated by 2026.
- A poll commissioned by the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC) found that 22% of Canadians access news from non-traditional media sources and 39% of young adults are more likely to access news through social media, search engines, or friends.
- Ipsos market research found that 71% of Canadians have difficulty distinguishing between accurate and inaccurate information on social media.
The report notes that there have been changes to legislation in other jurisdictions to try to address shortfalls in legislation. This includes the province of British Columbia (BC), which passed legislation to target electoral misinformation and enhance transparency in political advertising; and federally, Bill C-76, an Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and other Acts, which addresses digital political advertisements; and Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act.
Elections Ontario makes three recommendations to address “limitations and gaps” in law:
- Enhanced oversight and enforcement of political advertising standards and increasing reporting requirements for digital political advertising (i.e. use of bots).
- Content and format requirements for authorization statements in digital political ads, and labeling any ad created entirely or in part by AI.
- Authority for the CEO to order individuals and entities, including social media and digital platforms, to monitor and correct false election information, and to intervene if they fail to do so.
While provincial elections are run centrally through one electoral management body, municipal and school board elections are run by individual municipalities. Election administration is just one of many statutory responsibilities of municipal staff, who would benefit from a streamlined, more modern Municipal Elections Act (MEA). Local elections will likely continue to be challenged by threats of misinformation and disinformation, and municipal administrators will require guidelines and support, tools, training, and other resources from the Province to manage these threats effectively.