SAMbot In The Media

February 25, 2025

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SAMbot In The Media

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SAMbot is a project that uses machine learning to track toxic social media content received by candidates in Canadian elections. Since launching in 2021, SAMbot has analyzed over 3.6 million tweets received by over 1,100 candidates across federal, provincial and municipal elections. Insights from this work have received national media coverage and been presented at meetings across governmental, policy, technology, human rights and academic spaces.

For more information about our work, or to arrange an interview, please contact media@samaracentre.ca.

Media Coverage

Redeye (Vancouver Cooperative Radio) | February 22, 2025: Astroturfing and Abuse: The 2023 SAMbot Alberta General Election Report

CBC Radio Active | February 18, 2025: The Power Abusers of Alberta's 2023 Election

The Calgary Herald | February 16, 2025: Alberta 2023 election discourse swayed by ’power abusers’ and bots: report

St. Albert Gazette | February 14, 2025: 'Power abusers' and bots shaped Alberta election discourse, report says

The Globe and Mail | February 11, 2025: Politics Insider: Trudeau says Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum are ‘entirely unjustified’

The John Oakley Show | February 11, 2025: In-authentic Engagement in Online Spaces

The Globe and Mail (Op-Ed) | February 11, 2025: Is that online outrage you’re seeing really grassroots, or just ‘astroturfing’?

CPAC | December 18, 2024: Online abuse and its effect on politics

The Hill Times | December 16, 2024: The Hill Times' Top 100 Best Books of 2024

Free Expression Podcast | December 16, 2024: What happened to our public discourse?

CPAC | December 4, 2024: Majority of Canadians Believe Online Hate and Abuse is a Problem

CPAC, On The Record | April 13, 2024: Democracy XChange 2024: The Impact of Online Harassment on Democracy

Metro Morning, CBC Radio | April 9, 2024: Engagement and Abuse on Toronto's Digital Campaign Trail: The 2023 Toronto Mayoral By-election Report

Global News Winnipeg | January 30, 2024: Winnipeg politicians are getting hammered by toxic messages, research says

680 CJOB The Start | January 30, 2024: Local politicians facing violence on the job: Samara Centre's Beatrice Wayne offers insights from the SAMbot project

Columnists from CBC Radio | November 17, 2023: Can a public official block a constituent?

Brampton Guardian | August 15, 2023: 'Abusive working conditions': Online attacks in Brampton municipal election among worst in Canada, report finds

Vancouver Sun | July 9, 2023: Nearly 11,000 abusive tweets targeted Vancouver and Surrey election candidates

CANADALAND | June 29, 2023: SHORT CUTS #897 PostStar Royco

Toronto Star | June 25, 2023: ‘We are ready to move on’: Why this Toronto election is different for the city’s immigrants — and why it might not be enough

‍The Conversation | October 27, 2022: #MeToo turns 5: Taking stock of gender-based violence in Canadian politics

Toronto Star | October 24, 2022: Toronto 2022 municipal election brings dismal voter turnout

Toronto Star | September 18, 2022: Anger, delusion and distrust: Is Canada’s democracy in decline?

The Hill Times | August 19, 2022: ‘Prevailing sense that toxicity is continuing to rise,’ as report finds one in six tweets analyzed during 2021 federal election ‘likely to be toxic’

Toronto Star: August 18, 2022: Time to tackle online abuse

CBC The Current | August 31, 2022: Women in politics are facing increasing harassment

CTV Northern Ontario | June 24, 2022: Rise in threats to politicians an attempt 'to undermine democracy': Northern MP

CBC News | May 22, 2022: "I did consider backing out": This candidate and others face hate in Ontario election

Betakit | May 19, 2022: Should politicians use Twitter + Ontario's election budget

Policy Options Podcast | September 15, 2021: Tracking Online Toxicity in #Elnx44

CBC Radio: All in a Day with Alan Neal | September 21, 2021: How toxic was the 2021 election?

Ottawa Citizen | August 31, 2021: Hostility on the 2021 campaign trail: Defaced campaign signs, toxic tweets and disrupted events.

CityNews Toronto | Aug 31, 2021: ‘Toxic’ online posts having negative impact on federal election voters

CBC News Power & Politics | August 30, 2021

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CTV Power Play | August 30, 2021

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Narcity | August 30, 2021: A New Report Just Revealed Which Party Leader Is Getting The Most Hate Online Right Now‍

630 CHED Afternooons | Aug 30, 2021: Decision Canada: Tracking online abuse during the election campaign – with AI technology based in Edmonton

Global News | August 29, 2021

‍CTV News | August 29, 2021: Racialized, female candidates more likely to face online abuse during campaign, analysis finds.

Future of Good | August 27, 2021: 15 Tough Questions Social Sector Leaders Would Ask Federal Candidates In An Election Debate

Globe and Mail | August 26, 2021: Green Leader Paul points out threats targeting her online, calls for accountability

Le Devoir | 26 août 2021: La cheffe du Parti vert dénonce les menaces en ligne contre les politiciens.

Toronto Star | August 25, 2021: Torrent of online ‘toxicity,’ including hate, targeting election candidates: study

CBC Radio: The Morning Edition K-W with Craig Norris | August 24, 2021: New project tracks toxic tweets aimed at candidates during federal election

CBC Radio with Ramraajh Sharvendiran | August 23, 2021: Ontario Morning

CBC Radio: Edmonton AM with Mark Connolly, Tara McCarthy | August 23, 2021: Tracking toxic tweets during the federal election

CBC’s Information Radio – MB | August 23, 2021: A new project is tracking toxic tweets aimed at candidates and political parties during the Federal election

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Research Director Beatrice Wayne shares solutions from SAMbot Alberta to combat online abuse, fake engagement, and inauthentic activity.

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The Samara Centre for Democracy is frequently asked to provide commentary and analysis on a range of topics related to civic engagement and political participation. We regularly appear in print, broadcast and digital news networks across the country.

Samara Centre in the Media

SAMbot has received national media coverage and been presented at meetings across governmental, policy, technology, human rights and academic spaces.

SAMbot In The Media

Humans of the House dominates the podcast charts - this time on Goodpods.

Humans of the House ranked #2 in Goodpods Top 100 Canadian Politics Pods

The Pointer interviewed Research Director Beatrice Wayne on the importance of strengthening communication between candidates and voters.

Beatrice Wayne on Enhancing Candidate-Voter Communication in The Pointer

In today’s Globe and Mail, Research Director Beatrice Wayne and Senior Research Coordinator Alex MacIsaac share insight from our latest report: Astroturfing and Abuse: The 2023 SAMbot General Election Report.

Samara Centre’s Latest Findings Featured in the Globe and Mail

Campaign strategist and community organizer Dave Meslin’s six-part documentary series, Unrigged is now streaming on TVO and on YouTube.

TVO Documentary, Unrigged, Now Streaming

In the 2023 Alberta election, we observed a significant amount of what may be inauthentic or fake, artificially generated engagement on Twitter. This included a very small number of users producing a disproportionate amount of abuse and a high number of potential bot accounts.

Inauthentic Engagement in the Alberta Election Discourse

The Samara Centre for Democracy monitored activity on Twitter¹ during the 2023 Alberta election as part of our SAMbot project, a multi-year machine learning initiative that measures abusive content received by Canadian political candidates on social media.

Astroturfing and Abuse: The 2023 SAMbot Alberta General Election Report

Party leaders Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith’s Twitter accounts had the most engagement of all tracked accounts.

Abuse across partisan lines, LGBTQ+ issues, and first-time candidates

Full Program Now Available on YouTube

Watch In Defence of Democracy ‘24 with Connie Walker

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Sabreena Delhon, CEO of the Samara Centre for Democracy, offers practical advice for Canadians looking to enhance their civic engagement.

CEO Sabreena Delhon Shares Civic Engagement Tips in University of Alberta’s New Trail Alumni Magazine

On Wednesday, January 8, The Samara Centre for Democracy along with the Government of Canada’s Open Government Team co-hosted a discussion about advancing open government in Canada.

Samara Centre Hosts Discussion on Advancing Open Government

A number of Canadian politicians have resigned from their posts, citing online abuse as a reason. But there is little data to quantify the amount and nature of that abuse.

Samara Centre’s SAMbot Research Featured in The Parliamentarian

The Samara Centre for Democracy's French-language podcast, Les Personnages de la Chambre, has been nominated for Best Podcast in the Consumer category at the 2024 Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPA).

Les Personnages de la Chambre Nominated for Best Podcast (Consumer Category) by the Canadian Online Publishing Awards

On January 6, 2025, Governor General Mary Simon granted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request to prorogue Parliament until March 24, 2025.

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In a period of democratic backsliding, the work of the Samara Centre for Democracy is more urgent and relevant than ever before.

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2024 Publications

Humans of the House has received national media coverage and has been the #1 show in the Government category for several weeks on Apple Podcasts where it has also been featured as a New & Noteworthy Special Series.

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CEO Sabreena Delhon Featured in CPAC Documentary on Online Harms and Cyberbullying

Our CEO, Sabreena Delhon, received a King Charles III Coronation Medal, presented at a special ceremony hosted at the Samara Centre’s office on November 1st.

CEO Sabreena Delhon receives King Charles III Coronation Medal

On Wednesday, December 4th, more than 400 people attended The Walrus Talks at Home: Polarization.

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Samara Centre for Democracy CEO, Sabreena Delhon and Connie Walker, this year’s In Defence of Democracy feature speaker appeared on CTV’s The Social on November 12th, 2024 to promote our annual event.

In Defence of Democracy Featured on CTV’s The Social

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On October 10th, we hosted an intimate gathering to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tragedy in the Commons, the bestselling book by Samara Centre co-founders Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan.

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Bonus Humans of the House Episode Featured in The Hill Times

On October 2nd, the Samara Centre hosted Democratic Innovation: What’s Needed, What’s Not Necessary, What’s Next featuring panelists Malorie Flon (Institute du Nouveau Monde), Bianca Wylie (Digital Public) and Sarah Yaffe (MASS LBP).

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In this special bonus episode, we celebrate and reflect upon the tenth anniversary of the bestseller book, Tragedy in the Commons, written by Samara Centre for Democracy co-founders, Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan. Samara Centre CEO Sabreena Delhon hosts this conversation to ask, what has changed? What has stayed the same? Where are the fault lines in Canadian democracy?

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Ten years ago, Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan published Tragedy in the Commons.

Founders of the Samara Centre Reflect on 10 Years of the Bestselling Tragedy in the Commons in New Podcast Episode

Sabreena Delhon and Andrea Mariko Grant delve into solutions to tackle the harmful working conditions that local politicians are facing in a new Municipal World Magazine article.

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We sat down with the Pulitzer and Peabody-award winning investigative journalist ahead of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

A Q&A with this year’s in Defence of Democracy Speaker: Connie Walker

CEO of the Samara Centre for Democracy Sabreena Delhon joined Ontario Today host Amanda Pfeffer on a September 17th call-in show where listeners shared how political polarization is taking a toll on their interpersonal relationships.

How are a handful of users on social media platforms fueling affective polarization?

Lawyers and paralegals in Ontario can now listen to Humans of the House in partial fulfillment of their continuing professional development requirement.

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Bestselling book endures with critical insights about how to build a more resilient Canadian democracy

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Samara Centre for Democracy Advises on Safer Working Conditions for Elected Officials Before the Standing Committee on Procedures and House Affairs

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Xiao Hua Gong spent a lot on advertising, and though those expenses didn’t translate into success at the polls, it showcased how big campaign budgets alone can reach into communities — sometimes in unexpected ways.

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Les Personnages de la Chambre est, depuis plusieurs semaines, l’une des émissions les mieux placées dans la catégorie gouvernementale sur les balados d’Apple Podcasts (Canada).

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Explore Our Work

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