TikTok's logo on a smartphone screen in Frankfurt, Germany, on April 10.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
A small number of political commentators, including TikTok creators and broadcasters based in the U.S., are getting millions of viral views, raising concerns about the impact of partisan social-media influencers and foreign media outlets in the run-up to the federal election.
Meta’s ban on posting news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada has meant that many people are getting their news on social media from a small number of sources, a report by the digital research group Reset Tech warns. The ban was brought in to avoid having to pay news organizations for using their content under the 2023 Online News Act.
The analysis of political posts on TikTok from January until the end of March found that although mainstream media outlets including CTV and CBC were gaining the most viral views on TikTok, posts by individual influencers, amplifiers of content and foreign news sites also are garnering millions of views.
The analysis includes the first week of the federal election campaign, which was called on March 23 and will be held on April 28.
Emily Laidlaw, the University of Calgary’s Canada Research Chair in cybersecurity law, said academics are still studying the impact of Meta withdrawing news from their platform in Canada, but “the research is showing an increase of political news and content on TikTok.”
“We are seeing influencers filling the space and conversations moving elsewhere,” she said. People seeking political news are “not drawing a distinction between news from traditional media and influencers on social media.”
She said algorithms would push more of the same content, which could mean that people watching one partisan video would get more of the same.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds a press conference in the Nepean riding of Ottawa, on April 12.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The Reset Tech report raised concerns that a relatively small group of influencers, publishers and amplifiers are having a disproportionate influence on Canadians.
It found that the top 100 most-viewed political accounts generated three-quarters of views: 1.3 billion out of 1.72 billion.
“Social media appears to give us unlimited choice and freedom, but what we see is largely decided for us by the Big Tech companies,” said Ben Scott, CEO of Reset Tech. “We may perceive TikTok as a platform of infinite channels, but it turns out a small number of influencers get the vast majority of online audiences.”
Reset Tech, which is based in London with staff in Britain, the U.S. and Canada, defined political content as posts related to Canadian politicians, policy issues and foreign affairs affecting Canadian politics that appeared in the TikTok feeds of Canadian users.
Although homegrown content – which includes videos from news organizations such as CTV – is responsible for the vast majority of news about Canadian politics, U.S.-based influencers are reaching far-more people per video, the analysis by Reset Tech found.
TikTok accounts from outside Canada posted only 13 per cent of videos about Canadian politics this year. But they accounted for 45 per cent of views. Canadian posts about politics on TikTok accounted for 1.1 billion views. Non-Canadian accounts garnered about 918 million views between January and March.
CTV News is the No. 1 TikTok site for Canadian political content in Canada, with 108 million user views between January and March. CBC News comes second with 81 million views of its Canadian political content on TikTok.
But right-wing foreign media outlets from the U.S. and Britain are getting millions of views too. Fox News and the Daily Mail are ranked as the 15th and 17th most influential TikTok creators on Canadian politics by Reset.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh attends a rally at the campaign office of NDP candidate Rachel Loewen Walker, centre right, in Saskatoon on April 9.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Twenty-seven viral videos posted by the Daily Mail, a right-of-centre middle-market British tabloid, including a video of Liberal Leader Mark Carney saying the old relationship Canada had with the United States is over, had 23.5 million views. The right-wing American broadcaster Fox News posted 27 viral videos between January and March that gained more than 22 million views in Canada.
The analysis found that while CTV posted 422 viral videos – with 107 million viral views – and CBC posted 99 with 81 million views – America’s The Daily Show got 67 million views of Canadians for only 13 videos.
The fourth most influential TikTok creator discussing Canadian politics, the report says, is Mario Zelaya, from Burlington, Ont., whose videos are critical of Mr. Carney. He had 71 million viral views between January and March 31, according to the report.
Mr. Zelaya, whose narrative is overwhelmingly pro-Conservative, has a measured presentation style, often drawing attention to video clips and suggesting people watch them. They include a clip of former British prime minister Liz Truss criticizing Mr. Carney’s economic management while he was governor of the Bank of England. She urges people not to back him.
Ms. Truss resigned after only seven weeks in office after a mini-budget announcing tax cuts led to a drop in the value of the British pound and economic turmoil.
In one post, Mr. Zelaya blames rising crime on Liberal policies, praising Pierre Poilievre’s “jail not bail” policy. In another, he seizes on Mike Myers’s backing for Mr. Carney, saying the comedian lives in the United States.
In a video, Mr. Zelaya urged his followers to vote Conservative in the election if they did not like government backing for a drag summer camp for children, and to vote Liberal if they do.
“I see myself as the yin to mainstream media’s yang,” he said in an e-mail. “I’m not driven by an agenda or revenue.” He said the scale of his audience is partly because people like the short video format on their phones.
Mr. Zelaya, who came here from El Salvador about 40 years ago, said he was particularly concerned about immigration.
“As an immigrant myself, I speak out about the risks of the Liberal government’s immigration policies and the Century Initiative – not out of intolerance, but out of concern for the pressures it puts on housing, health care and public safety,” he said.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney highlights the Edmonton Oilers sweater a supporter wears as he makes a campaign stop during his Liberal Party election tour in Hamilton, Ontario, on April 10.Carlos Osorio/Reuters
The Century Initiative is a non-profit think tank with a goal of bringing the country’s population to 100 million people by the century’s end.
Matty DiMillo, a creator posting as Canadian Resisters, who is critical of Mr. Poilievre and Mr. Trump and generally favourable to Mr. Carney, is the eighth most viewed in Canada, with 38 million views between January and March, the report found.
The influencer from Vancouver Island, who is currently in Italy and posting from there, said he created his TikTok account “because I have grave concerns about misinformation and foreign interference in our country and around the world as it relates to our politics and our social discourse.”
“My goal is to provide facts, context and to push back against behaviour that threatens the wellness of our belief in our democratic institutions as a country,” he said.
Many of his posts feature clips of Mr. Carney speaking at press conferences. In one video, he argues that the Conservatives are panicking, and can’t even be sure of holding seats in Edmonton.
@canadianresisters #PierrePoilievre is panicking. #Canada #fyp #Cdnpoli #Alberta #Edmonton #Calgary #canada:flag-ca: #onpoli #Ontario #albertacanada #CanadianResisters ♬ original sound - Canadian Resisters
Meta said in a statement that its position on posting news in Canada on Facebook and Instagram “remains unchanged.”
“Our position on the Online News Act has always been that it misrepresents the relationship between platforms and news publishers,” said spokesperson Julia Perreira.
“We’ve also long said that Canadians do not come to our platforms for news, and they can continue to access news online by going directly to news publishers’ websites, downloading mobile news apps, and subscribing to their preferred publishers.”
Steve de Eyre, TikTok Canada’s director of public policy and government affairs, said the app also posts its own information on the election.
“As Canadians – including the 14 million who use TikTok every month – engage each other with ideas and opinions on the future of our country, TikTok’s elections taskforce will continue working to safeguard our platform,” he said.