SAMbot Ottawa Election

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June 19, 2023
  
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This material is part of the Online Abuse in Local Elections: The SAMbot Municipal Report.

Ottawa city card with image of friendly robot SAMbot, a map of the city, and the following SAMbot findings: Total Tweets 257,214 ; Accounts Tracked 112 ; Abusive Tweets 54,002 ; Percentage Abusive 21% ; Insults 36,898; Toxic 21,792 ; Threats 16,012 ; Sexually Explicit 6,518 ; Identity Attacks 11,180

Tracked Accounts: 112 (12 Mayor, 63 Councillor, 37 School Trustee) ; Tracking Period: 65 days: August 20, 2022 at 12:00 a.m. ET to October 24, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET

Ottawa Mayoral and School Trustee Candidates Received the Most Engagement and Abuse

Catherine McKenney was an Ottawa city councillor representing Somerset Ward from 2014 to 2022 and they placed second in the mayoral race. McKenney received the most tweets (85,697) and the second most abusive tweets (17,036) of any candidate.

Mark Sutcliffe was elected mayor of Ottawa in 2022. He received the fourth highest volume of abusive tweets (4,170).

School trustee candidate Nili Kaplan-Myrth received the most abusive tweets (21,460) of any candidate. Kaplan-Myrth is a family physician who was targeted due to her advocacy in support of pandemic safety measures and COVID-19 vaccination. She was elected in 2022.

Top 10 Ottawa Candidates: Highest Volume of Tweets

Candidates are ranked based on the volume of total tweets they received.

One in Ten Tweets Received by Kaplan-Myrth Were Threats

Below is a selection of real tweets that were received by Kaplan-Myrth that SAMbot evaluated as threats. They are shared to illuminate the severity of abuse candidates can experience on the digital campaign trail. Only accounts tracked by SAMbot are presented.  

The following tweets include language that is graphic, offensive and potentially traumatizing. We are sharing this content in order to responsibly and accurately convey the full working conditions that municipal candidates confront on the digital campaign trail. 

Anonymous tweet: "@nilikm You should all be hanged for pushing this on kids. Shame."
Anonymous tweet: "@nilikm You are a menace to our society and need to be removed"
Anonymous tweet: "@USER @USER @nilikm Masks are deadly and useless. If you were not all liars that would be one thing but you have all aided and abetted in genocide, your crocodile tears mean fuck all. Instead you need to be thrown in prison and Nuremberged."

All twitter handles aside from the candidates are represented as @USER for anonymity.

The Highest Rates of Abusive Content Were Associated with Ottawa School Board Trustee Candidates

Five of the six candidates to receive the highest proportions of abusive tweets were running to be Ottawa Carleton District School Board trustees.

The highest proportions of abusive tweets went to school trustee candidates Shannon Boschy and Chanel Pfahl. Respectively, 33% and 32% of the tweets they received were abusive. Both candidates vocally objected to equity, inclusion and sex education policies. They were outspoken about their opposition to access to gender-affirming care for youth. Neither was elected in 2022.

Ottawa Candidates: Proportion of Abusive Tweets Breakdown 

The following candidates received over 100 tweets and are ranked based on their proportion of abusive content.

Identity Attacks Common in Ottawa School Trustee Twitter Discussion

SAMbot evaluated a high proportion of the abusive tweets received by Ottawa school trustee candidates Chanel Pfahl and Shannon Boschy as identity attacks. Respectively, 16% (2,559 tweets) and 15% (339 tweets) of all tweets they received were categorized in this way.

SAMbot assesses a tweet as an identity attack whether the attack is directed at the candidate or at another individual or group. In this case, a significant portion of the identity attacks received by these candidates were not targeting their demographic characteristics, but instead, their opposition to teaching gender inclusivity and anti-racism in schools. Tweets that described these candidates as transphobic, racist, or similar terms were evaluated as identity attacks by SAMbot. At the same time, many tweets SAMbot labeled as identity attacks were sent in support of these candidates and their policies. For example, when a candidate was tagged in a tweet containing abusive language towards trans people, SAMbot registered that tweet as an identity attack towards that same candidate.

The category of identity attacks, therefore, is a complex one, and doesn’t necessarily imply that a candidates’ specific identity was attacked. Instead it indicates that conversations about identities - their expression and related policies - are manifesting a significant volume of abuse, which is in turn shaping the substance, tone and experience of political conversations online.

Ottawa Candidates: Identity Attacks Comparison

Below is a sample of real tweets that were received by Pfahl and Boschy that SAMbot evaluated as identity attacks. They are shared to illuminate the severity of abuse candidates can experience on the digital campaign trail. Only accounts tracked by SAMbot are presented.

The following tweets include language that is graphic, offensive and potentially traumatizing. We are sharing this content in order to responsibly and accurately convey the full working conditions that municipal candidates confront on the digital campaign trail.

Anonymous tweet: "@ShannonBDouglas Go fuck yourself you transphobic prick"
Anonymous tweet: "@ChanLPfa If they truely believe that teaching student, whites are racists, trans is good, math is white supremacists, keeping secrets from parents is good, helping children transform to their authentic selves then they are the ones that are mentally ill."
Anonymous tweet: "@ChanLPfa @USER Holy fuck what a racist bitch you are"
Anonymous tweet: "@USER @ChanLPfa @USER @USER Normally, straight teachers doesn't feel the need to validate their sexual oriantation with their students and if they do, there is a name for that: Groomer or pedophile. But somehow trans and non binary activists doing the same thing always get away with a free pass."
Anonymous tweet: "@USER @ShannonBDouglas @USER @USER Nope. YOU are completely projecting. Shannon cares about what is in kids' MINDS, not their pants. Parents are sick of the pseudoscientific religious gender ideology that is ravaging gay kids, autistic kids, traumatized kids, anxious kids. ENOUGH.

All twitter handles aside from the candidates are represented as @USER for anonymity.  

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This material is part of the Online Abuse in Local Elections: The SAMbot Municipal Report.

How to cite: The Samara Centre for Democracy, Online Abuse in Local Elections: The SAMbot Municipal Report, (Toronto: The Samara Centre for Democracy, 2023), http://www.samaracentre.ca/project/online-abuse-in-local-elections-sambot-municipal-report.

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