{"id":265856,"date":"2018-01-17T22:28:49","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T03:28:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/the-digital-attack-on-democracy\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T21:56:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T01:56:28","slug":"the-digital-attack-on-democracy","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/01\/the-digital-attack-on-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"The digital attack on democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2017, it became clear that democracy is under digital attack. The year began with the historic public report<\/a> by US intelligence agencies on Russian interference in the 2016 election. As the months went by, investigations by journalists, researchers and government agencies exposed more evidence of interference. Further examples of digital interference were seen in France\u2019s<\/a> presidential election, Germany\u2019s<\/a> parliamentary election and Kenya\u2019s<\/a> presidential election \u2014 which was run twice in 2017, in part because the country\u2019s supreme court feared that the voting system had been hacked.<\/p>\n

Countries around the world face digital threats. The first steps to secure democracy are to admit that we have a problem and to gain some clarity on what the problem is.<\/p>\n

To contribute to that discussion, the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions at the University of British Columbia has released Digital Threats to Democratic Elections: How Foreign Actors Use Digital Techniques to Undermine Democracy<\/em><\/a>. Working with Jordan Buffie, Spencer McKay and David Moscrop on a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, I pored over existing research to propose a cyberthreat assessment for democratic elections. Our report clarifies how democracies are threatened by foreign actors using digital techniques, why countries and citizens are vulnerable and what solutions might exist.<\/p>\n

Here are five key observations and their implications for digital threats to elections in Canada.<\/p>\n

1) Foreign actors have developed an arsenal of digital techniques to advance their aims<\/strong><\/p>\n

A variety of foreign actors have used digital techniques to influence and undermine elections (for a summary, see the chronology below). While Russia<\/a> has received the most attention, states from North Korea to the UK have digital troops, trolls and troublemakers<\/a> at the ready for information operations. Nonstate actors also interfere in elections, from transnational far-right<\/a> movements to profit-seeking Macedonian teenagers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some foreign actors promote particular candidates, policies or ideologies, and others seek to delegitimize governments or enflame social tensions. The report Digital Threats<\/em> details four general techniques that figure prominently in accounts of foreign interference:<\/p>\n