Boycott movement: ministers still on X, despite discomfort

CAQ ministers are considering leaving the X platform, in the wake of the boycott movement launched by several large organizations in recent days.

• Also read: PLQ caucus: social network X is “a tool that helps democracy,” says leader Marc Tanguay

Yesterday, the College of Physicians joined the ball, as did the major French dailies The World et Liberation over the last two days.

Upon his arrival at the CAQ caucus in Saint-Sauveur, the Minister of Cybersecurity and Digital Affairs, Éric Caire, did not hide his “discomfort” in the face of the disinformation that is running rampant on Elon’s social network Musk, but also now on Facebook and Instagram.

He is concerned about the disappearance of fact-checking processes that had been put in place over the past few years. “At some point, I think these big social media providers need to have social responsibility,” Mr. Caire says.

A reflection is underway within the government to decide whether CAQ elected officials should remain on the platform or leave it.

The presence of ministers brings credibility to these social networks, notes Éric Caire.

His colleague Ian Lafrenière also believes that elected officials must “question themselves about this”.

“When we talk about social media, we also talk about controversial figures on the South Side [de la frontière]. Do we want to continue using these platforms?”, underlines the Minister responsible for Relations with First Nations and Inuit.

Indeed, the owner of , in Germany.

MP Mario Asselin, for his part, will remain on X, even if he understands the concerns of his colleagues. “I don’t really have a problem” with trolls on the platform, he said.

The Minister of Health has chosen to be both on X and on the new BlueSky network, in order to maximize the reach of his messages.

“I’m going to see how the next few months go. At some point, maybe we will decide to be only on BlueSky,” notes Christian Dubé.

The PQ remains on

Asked on Tuesday whether the Parti Québécois is thinking of shunning Elon Musk’s social network, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon for his part responded clearly in the negative.

“No, it’s not on the table,” he said. […] We will continue to use it. […] At this time, we have no discussions of leaving X or Meta [Facebook, Instagram].»

The PQ leader, however, remains concerned about the issue of fake accounts, which Internet users use to intimidate. “Elon Musk was committed to eliminating fake accounts and taking action,” recalled PSPP.

He intends to continue to monitor “very closely the policies” that the web giants adopt to manage their platforms.

“I think that freedom of expression is never a problem,” underlined the PQ leader.

Yesterday, the interim leader of the PLQ, Marc Tanguay, also announced his intention to remain on Elon Musk’s platform, just like Québec solidaire.

– With the collaboration of Marc-André Gagnon