By Gerald Heinrichs

Justin Trudeau is very concerned about disinformation. The Prime Minister’s web page says the Liberal government is committed to “combatting disinformation” and Trudeau brands it as an “emerging threat.” The World Economic Forum (WEF) is on the same page. The WEF’s 2024 Global Risks Report says “misinformation and disinformation” are the #1 global risk. The report says this threat is even greater than inflation, armed conflict, and extreme weather.

But there is another side to this issue. In his Epoch Times article, Alexander Voltz writes, “One person’s truth is another person’s misinformation,” or, as Pilate said, “What is truth?”

Spiked editor, Brendan O’Neill, also sees it differently. O’Neill says today’s governments are gripped by a “disinformation movement.” He  describes it as “the revenge of the establishment against the disobedient classes.” Writer James Melville agrees. Melville says the disinformation movement is about “trying to control what we, the people, are allowed to see and say, under the guise of protecting us.” Professor David Klein is even more direct. He titled his recent book, Misinformation is a Word We Use to Shut You Up.

It can be difficult to sell any political message in 2024, and governments are peeved. That is because all messages are vulnerable to lightning criticism on X and other social media. One X influencer describes it this way: “Thousands of digital soldiers dig up the facts in minutes and spread the truth within hours. Narratives that would last weeks are destroyed in days.” Regardless, there is a conspicuous desire by many authorities to muzzle, if not silence, the giant army of online sharpshooters.

Not long ago, governments used the soft tactic of pressuring. Mark Zuckerberg talks about this in his August 2024 letter to the US Congress. Zuckerberg stated, “The White House repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain Covid-19 content, including humor and satire.” Zuckerberg goes on to say that warnings from the FBI caused Facebook to “denote” 2020 corruption allegations against the Joe Biden family, when, in fact, the news story “was not Russian disinformation.” 

The Twitter Files¹ also revealed government pressure tactics. A Toronto Sun article summarized that as follows: “Twitter suppressed content during the pandemic based on politics … at the behest of the Trump and Biden administrations.”

But these past stories of pressure tactics now sound like the good old days. That is because, in 2024, the force of government is heating up.

In August, Britain’s prosecution office issued a blunt statement. It warned the country’s citizens, “Think before you post.” The Week magazine reported that, as of August 30, 2024, “The U.K. has arrested 32 people for online incitement.” In September, the British house speaker said in a BBC interview that “misinformation is dangerous” and “no misinformation” should be allowed on social media. He suggested more laws are needed beyond Britain’s 2023 Online Safety Act. That same week, The Spectator published an article entitled, “The Death of Free Speech in Britain.”

Another crackdown is looming in Australia. In September, Reuters reported, “Australia said it will fine internet platforms up to 5% of their global revenue for failing to prevent the spread of misinformation.” Reuters quotes a government leader who stated, “Misinformation and disinformation pose a serious threat to the safety and well-being of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy.”

And then there was the shutdown in Brazil and the arrest in France.

In August, French police arrested Telegram CEO, Pavel Durov. France took this action against Durov personally, rather than charging his company. Durov protested, saying it was wrong to charge him with “crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages.” Regardless, this event is a bold new level of government response to social media.

Also in August, a judge in Brazil banned X in that country. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports that the ban was because of the company’s “refusal to take down accounts by conservatives that the judge accused of spreading hate speech and misinformation.” The Journal says that in the two previous years, the same judge “ordered the arrest of more than a thousand people in the name of safeguarding democracy.” This ban in Brazil is another new and bold government action.

And there are signs that clampdowns will continue. In an MSNBC interview in August, US Vice President nominee, Tim Walz, declared, “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation.”

The whole world of truth and debate is turning upside down. Thrown away are the great thinkers, like Thomas Jefferson, who taught that “truth is great and will prevail if left to herself,” and that errors cease to be dangerous when truth “is permitted freely to contradict them.” Commentators like Michael Shellenberger and Thomas Massie say the old is being swapped out and replaced by a Censorship Industrial Complex.

In the coming weeks, Canada will roll out its own weapons against misinformation. Under Bill C63, out-of-line Canadians can face life imprisonment, prosecution for pre-crimes, and orders to pay up to $20,000. All this will be powered by a massive budget and 300 new bureaucrats. A column in the Brandon Sun says these incoming laws “seem to be aimed at making Canadians afraid to voice any strong and unpopular opinions on just about any subject.” According to podcaster Joe Rogan, Canada is “in the middle of a full-blown Communist takeover.”

John F. Kennedy said, “A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.” If that is true, then the next sitting of Parliament might be a deciding event for Canada.

1. twitterfiles.substack.com

Gerald Heinrichs is a lawyer in Regina, Saskatchewan.