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Out today - a new report by @cjtenove and me.
Thread on our findings:
https://democracy.arts.ubc.ca/campaign-trail/
Thread on our findings:
https://democracy.arts.ubc.ca/campaign-trail/
We wanted to know - how bad are incivility and abuse during political campaigns in Canada?
We analyzed over one million tweets directed at political candidates in the 2019 Canadian federal election. And interviewed over 40 candidates, campaign staff, and elected officials.
We analyzed over one million tweets directed at political candidates in the 2019 Canadian federal election. And interviewed over 40 candidates, campaign staff, and elected officials.
Our major findings:
1. About 40% of tweets at candidates were uncivil. 16% were abusive. Only 7% were positive. Election Twitter is ... a problematic place.
1. About 40% of tweets at candidates were uncivil. 16% were abusive. Only 7% were positive. Election Twitter is ... a problematic place.
2. Party leaders and high-profile candidates received a disproportionate amount of negative messaging.
3. The volumes varied substantially!
4. Women and racialized candidates did not necessarily receive higher proportions of incivility online BUT the impact was often amplified by their lived experiences of threat, harassment, or marginalization online. Our interviews were crucial to understand this.
5. Campaign teams often struggled to manage this for multiple reasons: lack of resources, training, technical skills etc.
6. Pervasive incivility and frequent abuse threaten the security of public figures and their staff, undermines democratic discourse online, exacerbates political polarization, and creates further barriers to participation by people from under-represented groups.
BUT we also make recommendations for dealing with this for political candidates, parties, platforms, and policy-makers:
Political candidates should:
- develop proactive plans to manage abuse and incivility;
- publicly communicate expectations for online engagement;
- promote health discussions online, INCLUDING by their own supporters.
- develop proactive plans to manage abuse and incivility;
- publicly communicate expectations for online engagement;
- promote health discussions online, INCLUDING by their own supporters.
Political parties should:
- provide training and resources to candidates;
- provide support that addresses candidates' diverse experiences and risks;
- establish guidelines for the online conduct of their candidates and staff.
- provide training and resources to candidates;
- provide support that addresses candidates' diverse experiences and risks;
- establish guidelines for the online conduct of their candidates and staff.
Social media platforms should:
- reduce deception via fake accounts and manipulated media;
- develop clearer and more reliable enforcement of terms of service;
- design to incentivize productive discussion;
- improve transparency on patterns of abuse and how they address it.
- reduce deception via fake accounts and manipulated media;
- develop clearer and more reliable enforcement of terms of service;
- design to incentivize productive discussion;
- improve transparency on patterns of abuse and how they address it.
Policy-makers should:
- clarify and improve laws and police procedures to address online threats, defamation, and hate speech;
- promote more platform transparency and content moderation;
- support groups combatting online abuse;
- coordinate internationally to address this.
- clarify and improve laws and police procedures to address online threats, defamation, and hate speech;
- promote more platform transparency and content moderation;
- support groups combatting online abuse;
- coordinate internationally to address this.
We had an amazing team:
Sonya Manuel, Jaskiran Gakhal, @JordanBuffie helped with tweet analysis.
@TrevorDeley led the machine learning.
@StolbaVeronica helped with report research.
@GraceALore was a vital team member until she became a (successful!!) political candidate herself.
Sonya Manuel, Jaskiran Gakhal, @JordanBuffie helped with tweet analysis.
@TrevorDeley led the machine learning.
@StolbaVeronica helped with report research.
@GraceALore was a vital team member until she became a (successful!!) political candidate herself.
Thank you to all the politicians and staffers who spoke to us.
We are particularly grateful to five who let us feature their perspectives in the report: @Kathleen_Wynne @JennyKwanBC @ottawaccarol @ElizabethMay @iamcelinacc
We are particularly grateful to five who let us feature their perspectives in the report: @Kathleen_Wynne @JennyKwanBC @ottawaccarol @ElizabethMay @iamcelinacc
And thank you to @SSHRC_CRSH @UBCLangScis for support, @UBCDemocracy for publishing the report, and @EqualVoiceCA for partnering with us.
Finally, thank you to @cjtenove who is the lead author on this report and who always brings such smart sensitivity to the tricky topics we study.
tl;dr - online incivility and abuse are real and a serious issue for Canadian politics and democracy. There are no silver bullets but there are lots of options to improve this situation and work towards more equitable and diverse political representation.
https://democracy.arts.ubc.ca/campaign-trail/
https://democracy.arts.ubc.ca/campaign-trail/
And many many thanks to other fantastic scholars and researchers involved in the broader project or who commented on the report @e_tolley @maite_taboada @andreareimer @GeraldBaier Gabrielle Bardell, David Salvo, and Eleanor Fast
