Project tackles online racism and misinformation in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon
Published January 11, 2023 at 4:28 pm
A new research project aims to tackle anti-Black racism misinformation on social media in Brampton, Mississauga and Caledon.
An increase in harmful content online, including misinformation and disinformation, is a threat to freedom of expression and democratic values, according to a press release from Canadian Heritage.
The new research project is one of 16 that will help to counter and educate about online harms, misinformation, and disinformation.
More than $1.2 million in funding is allocated for the projects, the Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez and the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities Dominic LeBlanc announced today (Jan. 11).
“The rise of harmful content online, including misinformation and disinformation, is one of the most pressing issues of our time,” said Rodriguez.
Canadians need to have access to the tools to identify disinformation and be able to express themselves freely without the fear of violence, Rodriguez continued.
Videos
“These projects work toward achieving this goal and we will continue our work to make the Internet a safer and more inclusive space for everyone,” he added.
The 16 projects were selected following an annual call for proposals launched in July 2022 by the Digital Citizen Contribution Program (DCCP).
The DCCP is one component of Canadian Heritage’s Digital Citizen Initiative (DCI), which promotes civic, news, and digital media literacy through funding third-party educational activities and programming to help citizens become resilient against disinformation.
The project in Mississauga, Caledon and Brampton, called Peel Community Anti-Black Racism Social Action Response, is led by the non-profit organization Family Services of Peel.
The Peel project aims to document the existing expertise of individuals and community organizations regarding misinformation as it relates to racism in the media, particularly on social media, and to encourage and identify innovative responses to build awareness and change attitudes.
The project has two main objectives:
- To understand misinformation as it relates to racism and understand how this misinformation affects individuals’ perspectives and treatment of racialized people;
- To conceptualize ways to combat misinformation related to racism.
The project is focused on the Region of Peel (Mississauga, Brampton, and Caledon), one of the most racially diverse regions in Canada, the press release notes.
For the full list of projects, see the announcement here.
insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies advertising