How did Russian and Iranian trolls’ disinformation toward Canadian issues diverge and converge?

Abstract

The study analyzes Russian and Iranian trolls' intervention in Canadian politics focusing on the 2015 election, revealing a wide spectrum of disinformation. Russian trolls showed some support for then prime minister Stephen Harper and were very critical of the current prime minister, Justin Trudeau. Also, they closely aligned themselves with conservative and far-right figures, while Iranian trolls supported the far left as well as the Palestinian cause. Iranian trolls frequently attacked the former prime minister, Harper, falsely accusing him of being a CIA agent and an ISIS supporter. However, Russian and Iranian trolls converged around the issue of the conflict in Syria with both showing support for Bashar Assad's regime and animosity toward the Syrian White Helmets group.

Detecting and responding to hostile disinformation activities on social media using machine learning and deep neural networks

“…O'Connor et al found that between 2010 and 2020, Russia used online disinformation to interfere with ''31 elections and seven referendums involving 26 states'' including members of the EU, the USA, nations of Africa and South America, as well as Canada [58]. Russia, especially through the IRA, used social media disinformation to target both Canadian elections and Canadian society, promoting Stephen Harper and denigrating Justin Trudeau, while fiercely encouraging right-wing extremism, particularly via amplifying and fomenting Islamophobia and antiimmigrant hatred [47].…”

“…To illustrate, in 2019, the European Commission released a progress report on its Action Plan Against Disinformation. According to the Commission, evidence gathered throughout 2018 and early 2019 confirmed ongoing disinformation activities originating from Russian sources, believed to be undertaken for the purpose of influencing voter preferences and suppressing voter turnout in the EU Parliamentary elections [22,47]. A recent study of Canadian Twitter data suggests that Russian trolls were behind ''fake news'' stories that attempted to stoke fear and distrust between Muslims and non-Muslims following the 2017 shooting deaths of six worshippers at a mosque in Quebec City, leading to renewed concerns that Russian trolls might attempt to interfere in the Fall 2019 Canadian federal election [48,49].…”

“…Iran has employed foreign interference against Canada via disinformation on social media, particularly Twitter [48,56]. The 2015 Canadian federal election was targeted by Iran, although in contrast to Russian activities, Iranian disinformation was primarily anti-Harper (the former Prime Minster of Canada) [47]. More recently, Iran has engaged in interference on Twitter, posting about Canadian pipelines [56].…”

Information Trolls and Democracy: A Qualitative Examination of Disinformation Campaigns in Canada

“…However, research in this area continues to be limited. Al-Rawi (2021) examined Russian Twitter trolls and their role in spreading disinformation during the 2015 Canadian Federal election. The study found that Russian Twitter trolls showed significant support for Stephen Harper (the Conservative Party representative) and were hyper-critical of Justin Trudeau (the Liberal Party representative).…”

# AstraZeneca vaccine disinformation on Twitter

“…Third, RT (# 312 in Alexa), formerly known as Russia Today, had a clear lead in both periods. Russia Today is a state-owned media outlet well known for disinformation [13,14] and supporting Russian diplomatic goals as an information warfare tool [15].…”