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Disinformation

Disinformation is deliberately misleading or inaccurate information designed to deceive the public and undermine people’s ability to make informed decisions. Although forged documents, government propaganda, deceptive advertising and other forms of disinformation are not new, current information technologies make the creation and spread of disinformation possible on an unprecedented scale and with unprecedented impact.

News April 24, 2024

CFE Joins in the Call for More Consultation on the Proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act

The Centre for Free Expression has joined with 23 other organizations and 34 individual experts to call on Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne to split the proposed Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) from the omnibus Bill C-27 in which it is currently embedded so it can be returned to the parliamentary committee for proper consideration – something it has not had to date.
Blog April 8, 2022

How private organizations and public institutions converge to create misinformation

A recent bombshell of a book about the corporate capture of Alberta’s energy regulator sheds light on how private organizations and public institutions sometimes converge into powerful networks that disseminate misinformation. The peer-reviewed book elucidates the inner workings of this phenomenon by developing an approach to analyzing institutional influence and dysfunction that can be used by investigative journalists, scholars, and anyone else opposed to abuses of state and corporate power.  
Blog May 6, 2020

Making it illegal will not stop the spread of misinformation

As we have seen in recent elections and in the present pandemic, misinformation can do real harm.  But the Canadian government’s plan to consider legislation to criminalize the spreading of misinformation is the wrong response. Criminalization will not stop misinformation. In fact, it often draws more attention to it, as well as undermines civil liberties and human rights essential in a democratic society.