The minister tasked with guarding against foreign interference in the 2019 election says she is disappointed with actions taken by social media companies to ensure their platforms are not misused or manipulated.

Back in January, Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould announced the framework of how the government intends to protect this fall’s election from foreign interference, which included how social media companies will play a part. She said that social media platforms will be “expected” to act transparently and keep the election free from interference.

[READ MORE: Government releases blueprint for protecting election from interference]

On Monday, while discussing a new report from the Communications Security Establishment about foreign interference, Gould told reporters that the companies hadn’t met her government’s standards. Gould said the government has “had several discussions with all of the platforms” — which she would later say included Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest, Reddit and Microsoft — to “varying degrees of success” about how they can keep Canada’s elections safe against foreign actors’ meddling attempts.

“We have not really seen that much progress with them. I think the platforms feel as if this is something they should be doing on their own,” Gould said. “I don’t have the confidence that they’re disclosing everything with us.”

Gould said her government would also like to see the platforms disclose more of what they’re doing to combat the nefarious uses of their sites with Canadians, which they haven’t done.

The democratic institutions minister said she’s “not feeling great” about what the companies have committed to and said she doesn’t think they’re taking their role as seriously as they should. Gould said in the case that social media companies don’t comply with the government’s request that they self-regulate, that it will look at “other mechanisms.”

[READ MORE: Foreign interference attempts likely in 2019 election: CSE]

Facebook has said that it will launch an advertisement library where all political advertisements will be searchable, ahead of the next federal election. It’s employed a similar tactic in other countries but has not yet launched its Canadian version. Gould still says there’s “much more” that Facebook could do.

Twitter hasn’t yet committed to publishing an ad library, Gould says, even though it’s required to under the new election laws that the government passed in December.

After this story was first published, a spokesperson from Google wrote to iPolitics. They said Google has met “several” times with Gould, her staff, Elections Canada and the elections commissioner, and the Privy Council Office to talk about its plans about transparency and cybersecurity. It’s also launched several initiatives to fight misinformation across its platforms and contribute to Canadians’ news-literacy.

“We have every intention of continuing our close work with government to protect Canada’s democratic institutions and election activities,” Colin McKay, Google Canada’s head of government policy, said in a statement.

There is not enough time in the current government’s mandate for it to introduce legislation that would effect social media before the next election, since there are only eight scheduled sitting weeks left.

Gould said that her government hasn’t introduced legislation targeting election interference because the type of threats has changed so rapidly since they were elected and because the government didn’t want to take away the benefits that social media provide to people.

“What is most important for me is to think about a regulatory framework that would apply into the future because what we don’t want is to regulate and legislate for something of the past and not be looking forwards,” Gould said.

Canada’s government has been discussing what regulating social media would look like domestically, in conversations with its allies, according to Gould. She referenced a new policy paper published in the U.K. as well as laws passed by Australia’s government that holds social media executives accountable for violent content on their platform, as potential blueprints for what Canada could follow.

The United Kingdom’s Online Harms White Paper, published today, opens its consultation for how to regulate online harms. It aims to counter “illegal and unacceptable content” spread online, undermine how terrorist groups weaponize the internet, stall the spread of disinformation and de-escalate how social media is used to encourage violence.

She also pointed to the European Union’s Code of Practice on Disinformation as a standard that she would like social media companies to uphold in Canada. The code that debuted in 2018 set out agreed upon measures by online platforms, social networks and advertisers to combat the spread of disinformation online.

“That has not been something any of the platforms have been interested in pursuing here in Canada,” Gould said. “I’ve talked to them about Canada-too principles for programs and projects that they’ve rolled out in other jurisdictions with regards to their elections to apply those here in Canada and those have received different levels of interest from the platforms, but I haven’t seen a willingness or keenness to respond actively here in Canada.”

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