Should the government regulate social media sites, as a means to prevent fake news and misinformation?

Yes; politically-motivated misinformation/fraud from foreign adversaries is far too prevalent and not well regulated. As well, social media companies should not be allowed to give political donations or lobby for political parties

Yes and no, yes because there’s a huge amount of misinformation but at the same time no because it runs the risk of government propaganda.

No, because if the government controls the media further more, there is more propaganda resulting in total media control

Social media companies should be forced to self regulate and comply with standards set by government

In theory, yes. But I would be EXTREMELY weary of which party is doing the regulation and that they're actually tackling the issue and not making it worse.

Government regulated media would only be a net good if it remained neutral. However, it is too likely that certain parties would abuse it and skew information

no but companies need to put notices up that say the information being shared is contrary to scientific/objective consensus.

The government shouldn't regulate, but spend more resources on education to all age groups to decipher real from fake news, including AI and Deepfaking.

No, but there should be laws to ensure fact checking directly on posts such as AI usage, fact checking (similar to x.com)

The government should not be the one to determine what is fake or real, but social media sites algorithm should not be allowed to perpetuate echo chambers.

Yes, but don't force social media companies to take down content. Make social media companies insert a feature where reviewers can select tags/options. Example: Instead of a like button, have buttons that say "misinformation", "opinion-only".

No, I don’t think the government should be responsible for what people consume. People should have enough intelligence to determine what’s fake or not in most cases

Possibly. I worry about the government misusing this power to spread propaganda that could be beneficial to them.

yes and ban X, facebook and any other site that has owners involved in other political administrations or trying to destabilize other countries

No, but sites should have to have a system in place to detect potential fake news and warn the viewer, so they can hopefully make their own informed decisions.

No, but social media sites should be required to provide a fact checking system to combat misinformation or provide context when needed

No, Social Media Companies are ethically responsible for the information transmitted through their sites and should be held accountable for libel, and dangerous misinformation. Make the penalty for allowing the spread of lies, libel and misinformation severe.

No, the government should regulate social media sites. However there should be an emphasis on educating Canadian citizens on determining what is fake news and misinformation.

No, instead add a notice claiming that the following information may be biased or contain misinformation.

yes but they should not be allowed to deny anyone of finding information just flag the video as false information

No, but social media sites shall be heavily fined if they permit misinformation being shared on their platform

Yes, due to biases. We need to pass an Equal Fairness Act, so all viewpoints are equally represented.

There is absolutely no way to regulate social media, the sheer amount of volume makes it near impossible without use of AI with has bias installed. Better to inform the citizen to do better research.

the government can stop interfering with our news and making themselves seem innocent the government is so corrupt that to be honest all government should be wiped clean and we restart the government with no corruption

I think information should be free to release but if proven false instead of removed forcefully added info explaining the falsities before any further news from that source. I.E person makes up story force them to release proper info in future.

To a degree, yes. Sometimes major misinformation can cause great harm to a certain politician, person, organization, or story and can lead o biases. as such I believe the social media site should monitor for such issues and ensure the truth is told.

We currently have no trusted news sources. Everything is biased and cannot be relied upon. There is no follow up to reporting on sensational topics to show outcomes.

It really depends on whether the government would have an effective plan in place to make the social media companies that are primarilly based in USA and China to listen.

the social media companies should do it themselves not the government

I’d like to say yes but I have no guarantee they will actually regulate the truth, so I have to say no- so a realistic view.

No, regulating social media sites will likely not be an effective solution to fighting fake news and misinformation.

Social media companies and their technology should be transitioned out of their current capitalist model.

The government should allow an independent, non-partisan commission to put disclaimers on social media posts that contain political bias, fake news, and misinformation, but otherwise not remove posts unless they contain material that incites crime or violence. The disclaimers also should not pass opinion, but merely inform that bias or misinformation may be present.

Yes, however guardrails should be put in place to ensure that said regulations do not harm legitimate journalism in the process.

Regulation is too cumbersome and costly, however there should be some consequence to the promoters of fake news, and clear conspiracy theories based on lies.

On one hand it would be nice to reduce the amount of fake news and misinformation there is on the internet but on the other hand I would not wish for the government to control what we can or can't see on the news.

There is too much misinformation, and fake news, and social media must be regulated, however I hate the idea of the government arbitrarily deciding what is fake and what isn’t

No, but rules should be put in place for social media companies in order to stop misinformation from being spread.

There should be laws to make sure that misinformation can be targeted and taken down. But there should also be changes to curriculums, such as funding of language arts programs such as social studies to make sure that people can build interpretive skills that they need.

In the case where fake news and misinformation becomes harmful and dangerous. There should be a strict standard for how news is delivered to the viewer Ie. Sources, citings etc.

No, while dis/misinformation is an issue, the only regulation of social media should be in the form of corporate taxation.

No, however companies should be required to provide insight into the validity of controversial statements, alongside warnings on statements that cannot be verified or are notably misleading.

No, censorship is not the answer they should put a disclosure statement encouraging people to check their sources and critically think

Yes, The government should regulate and flag fake news sources, but allow real and legitimate news to be shared.

There’s a fine line between regulating, just to stop fake news, and silencing free speech. I don’t trust the government to control the news

No, Social Media sites should regulate the information being presented on their sites, and receive hefty fines if they don't do a good job.

No, the government should only be able to control hate speech and misinformation on government sites. Canadians deserve privacy online and it's none of the governments business what social media does. Canadians should be able to be punished for hate speech and misinformation they spread online by attending a re education program or diversity training.

Somewhat but not nearly as much as it is now, and definitely needs to be less vague requirements because things are getting censored that really aren't.

No regulate media sites but require there be a fact checker or a note to where the information is coming from.

Yes, but not to the extent where the government has the ability of complete censorship & control of media.

We should regulate them, but should be on limiting how they collect and use user's personal data, like EU did, instead of not for controlling fake news or misinformation.

Yes, but only if it involves hate speech and extreme misinformation. Not having access to news on Meta is frustrating.

Tricky. What if those so called "fake news and misinformation" are true, and the government doesn't want us to know about it. Yes, I know what that makes me. I love to think.

No, but social media companies should be encouraged to do this on their own.

No, the government has no right to monitor the information on social media. There should be stricter screening by the creators and operators of the sights. It is people's right to choose what they want to believe and if they are dumb enough to believe it without checking there facts then that's their fault for being stupid.

No, and personally i would switch the word "misinformation" with "perspective"

no thats what a boycot is for dumbass

There should be no American based social media sites allowed in Canada. Instead there should be one social network for the entire British commonwealth. If yanks want to be on that network, then they need to renounce their U.S. citizenship.

No, but the sites should be mandated to take proper unbiased care of the posts on their site

governments should regulate the spread of misinformation and fake news only not controlling the sites itself

No as they do not prevent fake news to begin with.

there should be more of an effort by the government to educate people on avoiding fake news and misinformation. the government should also take down posts that incite or have incited real harm to people as that will or is causing harm.

Yes, but what they do regulate must be validated and have a proven reasoning behind it that citizens can see, beyond that of political views.

Yes, but only to some degree.

Yes, but only for misinformation that can cause harm (ie antivax)

No, as 100% of all misinformation and disinformation, fake news and propaganda has come from the government itself.

there should be strict guidelines and serious consequences to anything controversial

yes, to a certain extent. Illegal and insecure websites should be banned, There should be very strict guidelines.

Only if you want 1984 to become reality (I certainly don't

no, leave that to an independent commission

No, Educate Canadians on critical thinking and remind Canadians to stop dogmatically following American celebrity political opinions!

No; However, fact checking should be required and all statements moderated. Only information that has been verified as factual can display a seal of approval. There is too much fake news and misinformation on social media but the government should not have the power to determine what is fake or real news.

Yes, it's needed as there is lots of misinformation on the internet, and there needs to be fact-checkers that show accurate information, that give people the full story of what is happening.

Non, mais enseigner à l’école comment combattre-on les faux nouveaux

No, any type of regulation of the internet is going to be useless at best and harmful at worst

Ban social media all together

No, but there should be rules in place so that social media identifies if something is not factual or has been tampered with.

Only if it's to protect scientific facts and only scientific facts from misinformation.

Social media companies need to be good citizens and exercise decent standards. Some government or independent body needs powers to deal with disposable content.

No, but there should be more sources to fact check information

No, the words misinformation and disinformation have been used as accusations against other people for what the government is actually doing. So, no there should be no regulation.

Yes, but only for extremely important topics such as COVID-19 or public health and safety matters

Yes, to a certain extent, when social media posts threaten the well being of part or all of the population

No, I don’t think the government should wade into this arena. However misinformation IS a problem that needs to be dealt with nonetheless

People need to learn facts from fiction and media needs to be more trustful

The government should place warnings for misinformation and work on a fact-based system. Objectivity only.

people are gonna believe “fake news” whether the government is the one to release it or not so i don’t think it would make much of a difference and if it did it probably wouldn’t be a positive one

I think that they should be governed by some type of regulation. However, I do not think that the government is the correct people to do it. This needs to be overseen and then overseen by another company to ensure that it is not being used for personal gain by people or companies. Maybe a private company that has the government oversee the private company.

No, but there should be regulations that require social media companies to have an independent department dedicated to properly back checking and calling out fake information, and explaining the misinformation with a content warning instead of deleting the post

While there is too much misinformation and fake news on social media, it shouldn't be up to the government to regulate. The companies owning the platforms should be regulating constantly for their users to be educated and correctly informed.

No, but a trusted third party that is interdisciplinary and academic (peer-reviewed) should be funded by the government to review fake news and misinformation.

all media outlets should have to tell all sides of storys regardless if its politiaclly correct or not and no opinion peices, if media is not 100% impartial they should be shut down.

This should be private but there should be some kind of accountability.

Regardless, let people use critical thinking when it comes to these things.

Yes, but only to prevent disinformation. Content creators should have the right to say anything they want, as long as it is true.