Quebec Election Misinformation Project: Executive Summary

Executive Summary

The Quebec Election Misinformation Project aimed to identify and evaluate the spread and consequences of misinformation circulating during the 2022 Quebec provincial election, and also examined citizens' perceptions and media coverage of misinformation. The Project monitored social media activity related to the election using both automated and manual methods, combined with a representative pre- and post-election survey of the Quebec population assessing exposure to true and false news and perceptions of the information environment and electoral integrity.

The Project's main findings are that misinformation remained concentrated in specific communities, coming largely from a small group of individuals characterized by high distrust of government and media and conspiratorial thinking, with international dimensions and growth tied to the pandemic; aside from a widely publicized factually incorrect statement by the outgoing Minister of Immigration, the average Quebecer had relatively little exposure to campaign misinformation. Misinformation had relatively little impact on the election: Quebecers were more likely to believe they were exposed to misinformation than Canadians and Quebecers during the 2021 federal election, but only a minority considered it a serious problem, distrust in the electoral process (including belief that Donald Trump won the 2020 U.S. election) remained a minority view even among Quebec Conservative Party supporters, and a strong majority retained confidence in the election's integrity, comparable to previous elections. There is uncertainty and confusion about what constitutes misinformation, with almost half of Quebecers surveyed finding it difficult to distinguish misinformation from fact and unsure whether they were exposed to it, and citizens' partisan preferences shaping which parties or institutions they blame. The information environment in Quebec is becoming more fragmented: while a majority continue to trust mainstream French-language media, sources are diversifying, TikTok was an important source of political information and misinformation especially among younger people, and misinformation spread across both traditional platforms (Facebook, Twitter) and less-moderated alternative platforms (Telegram, Rumble, Odysee).

The report offers five recommendations: better educate citizens about the electoral process; avoid wording that suggests election results are known before polls close; respond seriously to growing distrust of political, media and scientific institutions; demand greater transparency and accountability from social media platforms, including a proposed "Duty to Act Responsibly" and better researcher access to data; and develop shared, reusable data infrastructures for studying the information environment, involving inter-university and international collaboration.