VANCOUVER—The vast majority of Canadians are worried that social media may allow them to be manipulated in elections, a survey released Wednesday by Simon Fraser University says.

The survey on online media and democracy included a random sample of 3,524 Canadians reached online and by phone, and found 58 per cent of Canadians believed social media was making Canada’s politics more polarized. Seventy per cent said it would increase manipulation by politicians, and 71 per cent said it would increase manipulation by foreign governments.

The survey is part of the Vancouver university’s Strengthening Canadian Democracy project run out of the Centre for Dialogue, which aims to take the temperature on how Canadians feel about their democracy with an eye to improving it, if needed.

“The fact that Canadians feel alienated from their elected representatives makes us that much more vulnerable to online manipulation,” Shauna Sylvester, the university’s Centre for Dialogue director, is quoted saying in a press release.

The survey also found Canadians have mixed views on how to regulate information online. Sixty-one per cent reported support for “removing harmful or hateful content,” while 39 per cent would rather let individuals decide what they see and read.

There’s also a large disparity between how much Canadians trust various sources of information. Over two-thirds of Canadians surveyed reported trusting university research, 59 per cent trusted government websites, and 58 per cent trusted newspapers.

Sylvester said one surprise from the survey results was how many Canadians valued increased privacy online (90 per cent) over receiving free services (10 per cent).

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