Understanding and Responding to Disinformation Targeting Canadian Companies

This white paper, created by Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst and the Dais with support from RBC, aims to fill the knowledge gap about disinformation and its intersection with Canadian companies and corporate brands. It begins by defining disinformation, and related concepts of misinformation and malinformation, within a broader lexicon that commonly labels these types of content as “fake news” or “propaganda”. It identifies the most common disinformation threat actors, and outlines the tools and tactics they employ by threat actors to create and amplify disinformation on social media, including exploiting algorithms, trolls and bots, and AI-generated content . It describes the ways disinformation is used to target companies and presents survey data showing how Canadian consumers are experiencing disinformation and how it influences their brand perceptions.