Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Request to remove newspaper article among Ottawa's queries to social-media giants

Share
OTTAWA -

Newly released documents show that a federal government department asked Facebook and Twitter to delete a newspaper article that it felt contained errors -- but both social-media giants denied the request.

The request to remove social-media posts that linked to an unspecified Toronto Sun article came from a director of communications at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada on Sept. 27, 2021.

Documents say that Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada staff believed the article contained "serious errors of fact risking (and) undermining public confidence in the independence of the board as well as the integrity of the refugee determination system." The board did not respond to questions from The Canadian Press.

The social-media companies ultimately said that they were denying the request because the article wasn't their original content.

The Toronto Sun did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Documents tabled in Parliament detail 214 examples of Ottawa asking for social-media content to be removed between January 2020 and February 2023. Companies took down posts about half the time for reasons such as impersonation or copyright violations.

The government documents came in response to a written question from Conservative MP Dean Allison.

In another case, the Canada Revenue Agency requested that private messages be removed from Facebook Messenger after employees shared taxpayer information on the platform.

The agency said an administrator deleted the chat on June 7, 2022, but it was unclear whether Facebook deleted the messages from its servers.

"The CRA disciplined the employees involved, up to, and including, termination of employment," the documents say, and the affected taxpayers were notified and offered credit protection services. Employees were also retrained on unauthorized access and social media.

In a third case, Meta, which owns Facebook, granted a request by the government to delete an account that was impersonating former RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and sending people fake messages.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and LinkedIn all complied with various requests that infringed on copyright or company policies.

However, social media companies often kept up posts that the government and its departments believed were offensive.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2023.

IN DEPTH

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster

A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

A 54-year-old inmate at the Toronto South Detention Centre has been charged in connection with a deadly jail beating late last week that claimed the life of a 69-year-old prisoner.

Local Spotlight

Bernie Hicks, known as the ‘Batman of Amherst,’ always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

Bubi’s Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

Some Manitobans are cleaning up Sunday morning, after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province Saturday.

Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.

A gargantuan gourd – affectionately named ‘Orangina’ by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home – earned the massive honour of being named B.C.’s heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.

Chantal Kreviazuk is set to return to Winnipeg to mark a major milestone in her illustrious musical career.

From the beaches of Cannes to the bustling streets of New York City, a new film by a trio of Manitoba directors has toured the international film festival circuit to much pomp and circumstance.

A husband and wife have been on the road trip of a lifetime and have decided to stop in Saskatchewan for the winter.

Stay Connected