OTTAWA — There is no evidence that indicates the federal Conservatives were behind a bot network on social media that praised a Pierre Poilievre rally, a new study has found.
The Canadian Digital Media Research Network launched an investigation after hundreds of X accounts posted about the Conservative leader's July rally in Kirkland Lake, Ont., all using the same language with phrases like"buzzing with energy" and"as a northern Ontarian."
Instead, the researchers said they believe it was an amateur experimenting with a bot pipeline by sourcing content from news stories, and the Poilievre event was caught in the mix. The rally had been reported on in mainstream media in the days leading up to the mass posts.Very few Canadians saw the original bot posts and the report said their impact was considered to be insignificant, but Bridgman said the narrative about the bots was"hijacked.
NDP MP Charlie Angus, who represents Kirkland Lake, questioned if the Conservatives hired an offshore bot farm to"create a false impression of momentum" for Poilievre in the northern Ontario riding. New Democrats also demanded tat the commissioner of elections investigate the Conservative party. "As we always said, the CPC had nothing to do with this. The Conservative Party does not use bots," said Sarah Fischer, the Conservatives' director of communications, in a statement Wednesday.
Bridgman described the political discourse around the bot campaign as"toxic" and said it should serve as a lesson for future Canadian elections. The second element was the timing: The bot posts came three days after Poilievre's rally, which"is inconsistent with somebody who is trying to manipulate politics," said Bridgman.
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