As Canadians prepared to vote on October 21, 2019, many questioned what the impact of fake news and social media might be on the election.

In the lead-up to Election Day, Darrell Bricker, CIGI senior fellow and CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs, came to CIGI to share what Canadians need to know about social media’s role in propagating fake news. The discussion — moderated by Aaron Shull, CIGI’s managing director and general counsel — pulled findings from the 2019 CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust, which found the majority of users surveyed felt that the political discourse in their country had been negatively affected as a result of the pervasiveness of fake news online. Given the impact of trust, or lack thereof, on users’ online and offline behaviour, this information can assist in making important decisions about policy and resource management.

The 2019 CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of CIGI, in partnership with the Internet Society and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The survey, launched in 2014 and now in its fifth year, is the world’s largest and most comprehensive survey of internet security and trust, involving more than 25,000 internet users in over two dozen countries.