“Canada or Canadastan? “. A number of social media accounts, promoted by online bots, and television channels in India are spreading false information about Canada and accusing Ottawa of espousing the Sikh independence movement for the creation of the state of Khalistan, according to CBC.
The public broadcaster analyzed various accounts on X (formerly Twitter) in the wake of pro-India and anti-India protests last month in Brampton, Ontario, and Surrey, British Columbia.
CBC identified an array of accounts promoting Khalistan and numerous others conveying anti-Khalistan messages and Indian President Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist ideology.
The publications of the latter accounts were particularly disseminated by online robots (bots in English), indicates the CBC analysis, which does not, however, specify who controls these robots.
Outright opposition to the Khalistan movement is an integral part of President Modi’s ideology, says Ward Elcock, former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
The violence of these demonstrations [à Brampton et Surrey] suggests that this message is conveyed [au Canada] much more than we thought.
In 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that there were credible allegations
regarding a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the assassination in Canada of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Mr. Trudeau welcomed the filing of charges in May in relation to this murder, while India accused Ottawa of having allowed Indian criminal groups to establish themselves in Canada.
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Members of the Indian community in Canada are afraid following protests in November. (Archive photo)
Photo : - / Evan Mitsui
A war in social media
Pro-Khalistan accounts were promoting unverified reports in November that Indian diplomats were using Hindu temples in Canada to build a spy network, CBC said.
However, according to CBC’s analysis, it was mainly publications from anti-Khalistan accounts that were taken up and amplified by online bots.
One of these accounts belongs to Canadian Daniel Bordman, who runs the right-wing publication The National Telegraph. His writings were the subject of thousands of retweets from nearly 1,800 suspicious accounts in November, according to CBC.
On November 13, for example, he released a video, accusing Khalistan supporters of marching in Surrey claiming they are the masters of Canada
and that white people just have to go back to Europe or Israel
. In addition to hundreds of thousands of views and retweets, including from more than 460 bots, CBC says, this tweet was cited by Indian TV network NDTV.
Mr. Bordman, who has been interviewed by several Indian media outlets, admits that he was sometimes paid for these interviews. However, he adds this: I would never accept money from the Indian government.
Are bots retweeting me? Of course. But I don’t think these robots have a big impact
he assures.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Press freedom has declined significantly in India since President Modi came to power in 2014. The organization notes that many major Indian media outlets are owned by loyalists of the president.
Insecurity in Canada
Balwinder Singh, who hosts a Punjabi radio show from his basement in Brampton, is worried about rising tensions between India and Canada and sometimes violent protests in November at home.
We never thought we wouldn’t feel safe in Canada
he says.
Many people have been arrested in British Columbia and Ontario following protests last month.
With information from CBC News
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