Canadian researchers argue that the election-integrity initiatives proposed by major social-media companies, including Meta, TikTok, X, and Snap Inc., lack clarity and transparency, making it difficult to evaluate their potential effectiveness. Although these companies have responded to requests from Elections Canada by outlining their content and advertising policies, critics say the information shared resembles marketing rather than actionable insight. Researchers emphasize the need for greater access to platform data to identify gaps and effectiveness in handling misinformation, a point highlighted by several academics calling for improved collaboration and transparency from these platforms.
If social-media companies wanted to help improve election integrity, they could share what's happening on their platforms with researchers, said McGill University associate professor Taylor Owen.
The letters by the social-media companies discuss the platforms' content and political advertising policies and in some cases also defend their approaches.
University of Calgary associate professor Emily Laidlaw called the letters 'essentially marketing tools' as they lay out plans without much detail.
Simon Fraser University associate professor Ahmed Al-Rawi agreed about transparency concerns, calling the letters into question.
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