The Canadian government has alleged that the Chinese app WeChat, an app similar to WhatsApp, launched a malicious campaign against Chrystia Freeland who represents the University-Rosedale area as its member of parliament. 

Currently, Freeland is a candidate seeking the leadership of the Liberal party.  If successful, she will automatically become prime minister.

The federal government’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Election task force (SITE) analyzes threats to Canadian federal election processes. In an announcement on Feb. 7, SITE claimed that an anonymous blog was linked to China, and over 30 WeChat news accounts took part in the campaign. 

 The SITE task force claimed that an estimated 2 to 3 million users took part in the campaign globally, and there were numerous WeChat articles disparaging Ms. Freeland which received over 140,000 interactions. 

The release did not state what the derogatory comments were or share names of users involved.

On Feb. 7, SITE issued a statement saying that Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism had detected coordinated and malicious activity about Ms. Freeland.

The launch of this information operation was traced to WeChat’s most popular news accounts and an anonymous blog that had been previously linked by experts at the China Digital Times to China.

In a social media post, Freeland said, “I will not be intimidated by Chinese foreign interference…having spent years confronting authoritarian regimes, I know firsthand the importance of defending our freedoms.”

Liberal party spokesperson, Parker Lund, said in a statement the party will continue to work with SITE to “further ensure the leadership vote is secure and fair.”

Mark Carney, who is also seeking the Liberal leadership, issued a tweet defending and supporting Chrystia Freeland. He said, “I fully support Chrystia Freeland and her campaign in light of this disturbing report…I am fully committed to defending the integrity of this race and stand firm against any attempts to undermine our democracy.”  

—Eleanor Vieira-Silva/Gleaner News