Out today - a new report from @HeidiTworek and me, Trolled on the Campaign Trail: Online Incivility and Abuse in Canadian Politics. Published by @UBCDemocracy @ubcnews https://democracy.arts.ubc.ca/2020/10/27/campaign-trail/

Our analysis of over 1 million tweets at candidates in Canada's 2019 federal election we found 16% were abusive, 24% were uncivil, and just 7% were positive. A few prominent candidates got the majority of this vitriol.

Interviews with over 30 candidates and campaign staff revealed how online abuse amplifies the offline prejudicies and threats faced by women and racialized, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+ folks. This contributes to systemic obstacles to full and equal representation in Canadian politics.

Online abuse is a cross-party issue, and we include mini-profiles of politicians from different parties and with different perspectives - @ottawaccarol @Kathleen_Wynne @JennyKwanBC @ElizabethMay
@iamcelinacc We’re grateful to these and other folks for sharing insights with us.

This is a complex problem that requires multi-pronged action. We've got recommendations for candidates, policymakers, social media platforms and policymakers -- which @HeidiTworek spells out https://twitter.com/HeidiTworek/status/1321895026176086016

Our research builds on the great work of other researchers, such as @sobieraj @daniellecitron @jon_penney @lizdubois @MelaneeLThomas @mlkrook @SofiaColMar @EricaRayment @Angelia_Wagner @patyrossini @DrLindaTrimble

& a shout out to the Canadian activists and journalists paying attention to this issue. @blackvotecanada @CJPAC @sproudfoot @AshleyBurkeCBC @antihateca @alexboutilier @snazzyazzy @fatimabsyed @SamaraCDA @ProudPolitics @ParityYEG and many others

We benefited enormously from our informal advisory board of @gbardall @e_tolley @andreareimer @maite_taboada.
And huge thanks to @EqualVoiceCA for partnering with us to help get our research to people contemplating a run for office.

Finally, none of this would have been possible without our tremendous research team, @JordanBuffie @StolbaVeronica Sonya Manuel, Jaskiran Gakhal, @GraceALore, our tweet-wrangler and algorithm-trainer @TrevorDeley, and the indefatiguable @HeidiTworek
You rock, folks!