Social media is in many ways the new public square — where most Canadians now connect with friends and family, and engage in civic discourse. It has become increasingly clear that this new square is having a toxic influence on our society and democracy: hate speech and harassment targeting marginalized people; disinformation enabling extremism and conspiracy theories to flourish; and online activities fueling real-world violence and exploitation.  

Authors: Andrey, S., Rand, A., Masoodi, M.J., and Bardeesy, K. | September 2021