Between Freedom of Expression and Cyberviolence: The Use of Social Media and its Effects on Political Engagement
Social media have become an essential tool for parliamentarians to use to share information and promote the work they do for the public as a part of their democratic duties. However, it has also become so rife with toxic posts and threats against public figures that an increasing number of elected officials appear to opt to leave public life rather than contend with cyberbullying and harassment. In this article, the author outlines findings on the extent to which cyberviolence affects parliamentarians and describes some ways to combat this scourge. This article is a revised version of a presentation originally delivered to the 59th Canadian Regional Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in Regina.
Hon. Nathalie Roy
Hon. Nathalie Roy is President of the Assemblée nationale du Québec
Violence in our social media and its consequences on political engagement, in particular that of women, are themes that have been very topical on the Québec parliamentary scene, particularly since the general elections held in October 2022. The electoral campaign included some dark moments and was marked by an increase in violence against candidates, no matter what their party. This violence included physical and verbal threats, particularly online.
According to our provincial police force, the Sûreté du Québec, there were at least 31 arrests made following threats against candidates. In the face of this upsurge of violence, multiple initiatives were put in place:
- Security around party leaders was significantly heightened;
- Some leaders even received bulletproof vests;
- The number of police officers and patrol vehicles was increased;
- The Sûreté du Québec also gave the five main political parties an emergency telephone number, available 24/7, to be used by candidates if they felt threatened;
- The President of the Assemblée nationale also ruled that one candidate had to be given personal protection for a day, until the police arrested the individual who had made threats against her; and
- The Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions led an awareness campaign on social media to make it clear that comments made on those platforms may constitute criminal offences.
I am sure parliamentarians, who are among the Canadian Parliamentary Review’s readers, have all received their share of hateful comments on social media. Since my election as President of the Assemblée nationale du Québec, I have had the chance to meet many delegations at home and abroad, and clearly the increase in online violence toward elected officials is a problem that knows no borders. Many of my counterparts have shared with me similar stories of their experiences in the performance of their duties.
Disinformation and climate on social media
Of course, in Québec as elsewhere, the rise of online violence toward parliamentarians is not a new phenomenon that has suddenly appeared.
As a forum for communication, social media have changed considerably in recent years, in particular with the rise of disinformation and algorithms that polarize debates.
As pointed out in a recent report1 led by the Public Policy Forum of Canada, the consequences of disinformation are numerous. At the societal level, disinformation can lead to the radicalization of certain groups, polarization of debates and social division. Disinformation also significantly weakens the quality and integrity of information. It discredits expertise, arouses cynicism, discourages informed decision- making, and undermines public trust in institutions. Ultimately, it can dampen democratic participation and lead to civic disengagement. At the individual level, disinformation can result in wrongs, such as financial loss and damage to reputation, not to mention psychological harm.
Many consequences of disinformation affect elected officials directly and indirectly. For instance, our institutions’ legitimacy crisis impacts our work, as parliamentarians are the faces of our political, democratic, and institutional structures.
As public figures, parliamentarians are more prone to being victims of personal attacks, especially in a context where debates are polarized, and where social media spread information at a rate never before seen in human history.
Use of social media by parliamentarians
Over the past few years, the use of social media by elected officials has become essential. These platforms help us reach the population, show off the work done in electoral districts and in Parliament and raise our fellow citizens’ awareness of certain initiatives and endeavours.
Smartphones have blurred the lines between parliamentary activities, work done in electoral districts, and what we do in our personal lives. This reality was underlined in an independent report2 on placing value on the office of parliamentarian, commissioned by the Bureau de l’Assemblée nationale du Québec, our board of internal economy.
The report indicated:
[translation] Members are constantly in the public eye. Their every action is scrutinized by journalists and political commentators. Added to this pressure is that stemming from the ubiquity of social media, which has a direct impact on the conditions of exercise of the office of parliamentarian.Events are always occurring in the Québec political sphere, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Parliamentarians must be ready to act at all times on different platforms, instantaneously. It is becoming increasingly important for parliamentarians to manage all sorts of social media (X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) in their daily lives.
Using social media also requires parliamentarians and their teams to develop new skills, in particular with respect to communications and brand management, and giving feedback to the public.3
Cyberbullying and threats
Parliamentarians’ growing presence on social media further exposes them to cyberbullying. Some crisis contexts, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can also fuel hateful and violent speech.
In 2021, Le Devoir surveyed4 the 125 Members of the Assemblée nationale to measure cyberviolence and cyberbullying behaviour toward elected officials. Of the 95 respondents, 35 per cent said they received unpleasant, intimidating, hateful or threatening messages multiple times per week. More importantly, 32 per cent said they had made a complaint to the police after receiving a threatening message on social media.
These are huge percentages! The same survey was conducted with the elected representatives of the House of Commons of Canada. Its results show that cyberbullying affects all parliamentarians, regardless of their political allegiance. According to the data gathered, insulting messages not only target political views, but also individual competency, gender, and ethnicity.
Due to the sharp increase in intimidating, hateful or threatening comments made toward them, elected officials have had to alter their relationship with social media. Nearly 40 per cent of parliamentarians who responded to the survey said they avoided discussing certain topics on social media for fear of being insulted or receiving unpleasant comments.
Freedom of speech and civic disengagement
The very high volume of messages on social media represents a major challenge in terms of management. How does one react to a hateful comment? Reply to its author? Ignore it? Delete it? Or report it according to the platform’s procedure?
There are situations where the line between freedom of speech and harassment is very thin. In a context where the public’s trust in democratic institutions is tenuous, this remains a sensitive issue.
Online hate can also lead to civic disengagement. In 2021, the mayor of the borough of Verdun, in Montréal, and the mayor of Ville Mont-Royal both announced they were leaving politics due to the toxic climate prevailing on social media. Many other municipal officials in Québec decided not to seek re-election for similar reasons.
Municipal-level initiatives
In the face of these departures by elected municipal officials, certain initiatives have been undertaken in Québec. The Ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation published an action plan to promote respect and civility.5 The document includes 11 measures to give municipal sectors and candidates better tools against bullying and harassment, and to ensure a climate in which the exercise of democracy can flourish in Québec municipalities.
In parallel, the Sûreté du Québec launched its plan to combat intimidation of elected officials.6 The purpose of the Surêté du Québec’s plan, which is aimed at elected officials and municipal managers, is to raise awareness and inform the municipal sector, offer support, protect public administrators, and make them feel safe. Under the plan, records are kept of acts of intimidation and violence to provide an accurate, up-to-date portrait of the phenomenon.
Even today, cases of incivility or harassment toward elected municipal officials keep making the headlines. According to data obtained by the Canadian Press7 from the Chief Electoral Officer of Québec, as of the end of June 2023, 434 Québec municipalities had held at least one by- election since the latest municipal elections in November 2021. Sixty-nine mayors and 505 municipal councillors vacated their seats before finishing their term, which was set to end in November 2025. The number of midterm resignations is constantly increasing in comparison with previous years. Though health concerns and family obligations may explain some of the departures, the fact remains that more and more elected municipal officials cite bullying, harassment, insults and threats as the main reason for their early exit from municipal politics.
Assemblée nationale initiatives
At the Assemblée nationale du Québec, daily monitoring of social media is carried out together with the Sûreté du Québec to detect any potential threats.
In light of the recent experiences of certain parliamentarians, the Assemblée nationale’s Second Vice-President was given a mandate to assess how our parliament can improve the safety of its elected officials. For example, installing cameras outside the homes of parliamentarians who wish to have them is being considered.
Cyberviolence toward women
Cyberviolence and cyberbullying affects women more heavily. Far be it from me to suggest that men are not affected: when I say we must fight online violence and intimidation, I mean that we must do so for the sake of everyone.
Nevertheless, in a study8 published last year, the Québec Conseil du statut de la femme confirmed that women are more likely than men to be victims of incivility and harassment online, in particular women from minority groups and women who are active in the public space.
Another study,9 published by the Samara Center for Democracy, showed that in Canada’s 2021 federal elections, female candidates were five times more likely to receive toxic tweets than their male counterparts, party leaders excluded. Five times more: that is huge!
In November 2019, at the initiative of the Cercle des femmes parlementaires, the Assemblée nationale du Québec adopted a motion10 to remind all parliamentarians that “they have a role to play in the fight against cyberbullying, in particular by demonstrating respect and courtesy on social networks.” The motion also recognized that “cyberbullying takes a particular form when it is directed at women, in particular since there is a tendency to threaten their physical integrity.” It also notes that “the hostility toward women hinders their involvement in politics.”
We must fight against cyberviolence toward women so that the number of women in politics continues increasing instead of decreasing. In this respect, I am proud to note that women hold nearly 46 per cent of the seats in the Assemblée nationale du Québec.
Parliaments’ initiatives in the fight against cyberviolence, in particular cyberviolence toward elected women, can take different forms. For our part, we are working on a public screening at the Assemblée nationale of Je vous salue salope : la misogynie au temps du numérique, a documentary also produced in English under the title Backlash, Misogyny in the Digital Age.
The documentary was made by Québec filmmakers Léa Clermont-Dion and Guylaine Maroist, and highlights the experiences of many well-known women around the world, including the former President of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, Laura Boldrini, and the former Vermont State Representative, Kiah Morris, two victims of online threats and harassment. Backlash has received considerable, worldwide exposure, as it touches on a terrible plague that goes beyond national borders. Though it may be difficult to watch, I invite you to do so. It is very well documented and raises genuine awareness about the devastating consequences of sexist cyberbullying. The English version is available for free on the CBC Gem platform.11
Following the public screening of the documentary, we intend to host a panel discussion with experts on cyberbullying. This is one example of what our parliamentarians can do to raise awareness and fight this scourge, but there are many others, including holding bilateral and multilateral discussions among parliamentarians
Ontario-Québec Parliamentary Association: working session on social media
In May, the Assemblée nationale du Québec and the Legislative Assembly of Ontario held a productive bilateral meeting. A parliamentary delegation and I were welcomed in Toronto for the 27th annual Ontario- Québec parliamentary meeting by my friend, Ontario Speaker Ted Arnott. As part of the proceedings, we held a working session on the use of social media. Experts talked with us about best practices and the behaviours to adopt on social media, especially for public figures.
One of the topics was doxing. This type of harassment consists of publishing private information about someone on the Internet without their consent, including addresses, phone numbers, financial data, and medical information. The speaker described various measures to prevent doxing.
These are often simple practices, but they should become better known and more widely disseminated. Whether it is changing your privacy settings or activating a setting that allows you to control whether you can be identified in photos or other posts, these are easy ways to better control content published about us.
Lastly, we discussed emerging threats, particularly what are commonly known as deepfakes. In a context where artificial intelligence is evolving at breakneck speed, the development of this kind of audiovisual manipulation must be monitored, especially for public figures like parliamentarians, who are constantly in the media.
The conferences and working sessions held during our Ontario-Québec meeting were very instructive and such meetings, including the Regional Conference where I presented the information in this article, are opportunities for us to share our experiences, initiatives, and best practices.
I encourage parliamentarians reading this article to share their experiences with their colleagues, and to learn about and share the tools and initiatives of their respective parliaments. We can, should, and must help each other fight against bullying and harassment on social media.
Notes
1 https://ppforum.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/DemX- RecommendationsToStrengthenCanadasResponseToDi sinformationOnline-PPF-Jan2022-EN.pdf
2 Valorisation de la fonction des parlementaires : rémunération juste, une équation gagnante pour la démocratie, April 2023,
p. 28.
3 Valorisation de la fonction des parlementaires : rémunération juste, une équation gagnante pour la démocratie, April 2023,
p. 28.
4 https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/600051/ serie-tous-polarises-menaces-et-insultes-contre-les- deputes
5 https://www.mamh.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/publications/
elections/BRO_Mesures_PlanActionCivilite.pdf
6 https://www.sq.gouv.qc.ca/wp-content/ uploads/2021/02/plan-lutte-contre-intimidation-pli-elus. pdf
7 https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1993153/politique-
municipale-elus-demission
8 https://csf.gouv.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/Etude- hostilite-en-ligne-envers-les-femmes.pdf
9 https://www.samaracentre.ca/articles/sambot-2021- federal-election-snapshot
10 https:/ / www.assnat.qc.ca/ fr/ trav aux- parlementaires/assemblee-nationale/42-1/journal- debats/20191127/258991.html#_Toc25849352
11 https://gem.cbc.ca/backlash-misogyny-in-the-digital-age
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