Russian Bot Farms Blamed for Interference in Alberta’s Secession Debate

After years of Kremlin cronies interfering in U.S. elections, America’s neighbor to the north is now getting a taste of Russia’s effort to sow disunity and grow distrust in the federal government.Voters in energy-rich Alberta will decide in October whether they want to break away from Canada and align more closely with America. New evidence obtained by Canadian monitors like Disinfowatch show that support for that separatist movement is being pushed by a Russian-aligned disinformation campaign.“There are various shares of information online that appear to be amplified by different bot farms that may have a link to Russia,” Alberta’s Conservative Party premier, Danielle Smith, told OMNI TV.Disinfowatch says Russia’s campaign is part of a sustained effort that includes Storm 1516-linked websites and social media accounts promoting separatist content across the pro-Kremlin content farm, Pravda Network. Storm-1516 has been identified as a prolific, pro-Russian covert influence and disinformation operation.Pro-separatist content is being framed online to unwitting Canadians through the lenses of American convergence, economic punishment, and claims that media conceal key truths, concludes a study by the University of Regina’s Center for Artificial Intelligence, Data, and Conflict. The center is using a new artificial intelligence tool called Cipher AI to track foreign influence on elections. Cipher AI’s bi-weekly narrative summary found that Alberta-American realignment had the highest-volume narrative. “This matters to Canada because repeated misleading framing can cloud public understanding of the referendum and cast separation as a response to economic hardship, institutional failure, and federal control,” according to the report.“They are targeting us every day,” the co-director of the center, Brian McQuinn, said of the surge in online activity linked to Pravda Network. “The question just becomes, what are they going to target, and how effective of a topic is it to magnify polarization and to amplify division,” Mr. McQuinn told Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper. Cipher AI monitors open-source information available through publicly accessible media platforms, websites, and social media accounts. The monitoring focuses on platforms and accounts based outside Canada that publish, distribute, or amplify significant volumes of content . Among its targets are accounts or channels that have been identified by the Canadian government as foreign information or propaganda ecosystems. As election officials in the oil and cattle-fueled province — more akin to Texas than the rest of Canada — prepare for an October 19 referendum that includes several other questions in addition to secession, the center cautions that domestic political advocacy, debate, and lawful political expression are not, in themselves, disinformation.Residents of the province have long railed against federal environmental policies that they say are holding back the province’s oil industry. President Trump’s return to the White House last year and his support of the oil industry have invigorated efforts by the separatists. Supporters at an independence rally last summer wore “Make Alberta Great Again” hats.Most of the roughly five million barrels per day extracted in Alberta now go to American refineries, but Prime Minister Mark Carney has been seeking to shift more of that production to China and other Asian countries. The separation vote is likely to fail if a proposed oil pipeline through the province to the West Coast proceeds as planned. Alberta has said the pipeline is needed to increase Canada’s energy independence but environmental groups have fought for years to block it.Ms. Smith said during the signature-collection process that she is not in favor of Alberta seceding, but she would add the question to the referendum if enough names were verified. The wording of the question will be very clear: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?”A “yes” vote would not immediately trigger independence as officials from Alberta would need to negotiate with the federal government.While Russia is blamed for nearly 80 percent of the vote-linked influence posts, American accounts are also helping fill up voters’ social media feeds. Most of the American narratives unearthed by the researchers focus on media corruption, state censorship, and “information warfare.” Other American influence campaigns that have increased in volume include posts on resource nationalism and economic self-determination.Security Intelligence Service Director Dan Rogers has said the campaign has not been struck by “foreign interference,” but Mr. McQuinn says interference and influence are different. “This report clearly shows they are pounding in on the Canadian ecosystem with topics related to Canada specifically, so is that foreign influence? I think by any sort of normative or practical standard, the answer is ‘yes,’” Mr. McQuinn said.

Russian Bot Farms Blamed for Interference in Alberta’s Secession Debate

Russian Bot Farms Blamed for Interference in Alberta’s Secession Debate

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