Ads for several prominent Canadian companies and organizations have been appearing in the feeds of extremist accounts on X, prompting some of them to pause advertising on the social media platform following an investigation by CBC News.
They join a growing number of brands that are backing away from X, formerly known as Twitter, amid the unchecked rise in hateful content and owner Elon Musk’s seeming endorsement of antisemitic and other far-right conspiracy theories.
A review by CBC News of about two dozen accounts linked to white nationalists, white supremacists, misogynists and other extremists found ads by major brands such as Samsung Canada, CF Montréal and Pathways Alliance, an oil industry lobby group.
Ads for Samsung’s new Galaxy flip phone appeared in the results when searching for a hashtag used to circulate racist content, where other posts included messages such as “Keep Europe White.”
Samsung ads also appeared in the feed of an account that the Tech Transparency Project, a watchdog group, flagged for spreading Islamophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
In addition, Samsung ads were spotted in the feeds of Libs of TikTok, which LGBTQ advocates say stirs up anti-trans hatred, and Mike Cernovich, who has been described by extremism researchers as a “male supremacist.”
Samsung’s Canadian office did not respond to several emails sent by CBC News requesting comment.
An ad for Samsung Canada appears in the feed of an X account that the Tech Transparency Project, a watchdog group, has flagged for spreading Islamophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories. (X)
Pathways Alliance, which lobbies on behalf of such companies as Cenovus Energy and Suncor, had ads appear in Carl Benjamin’s feed. Benjamin has been kicked off other social media platforms in the past for making racist and misogynistic comments.
The lobby group’s ads also appeared in the feed of an individual who leads a far-right fitness group and whose posts include images of his sunwheel tattoo, a symbol popular among neo-Nazis.
Media representatives from Pathways Alliance did not respond to emails from CBC News asking for comment.
B’nai Brith plans to continue advertising
Ads for Montreal’s Major League Soccer team, CF Montréal, and for the Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada appeared in the feed of Richard Spencer, a well-known white nationalist who helped lead a march in 2017 where followers chanted “Jews will not replace us.”
CF Montréal did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, said despite his organization’s concerns about antisemitism on social media, it had no plans to stop advertising on X.
“B’nai Brith has made a conscious decision to remain on social media,” he said in an interview.
A B’nai Brith Canada ad appears on X within the feed of Richard Spencer, a white nationalist who helped lead a march in 2017 where anti-Jewish slogans were chanted. (Jonathan Montpetit/CBC)
“So if you’re making a conscious decision to stay in the social media space … there’s a lot of good and bad that comes with all of that.”
Other companies and organizations, though, said they halted advertising on X when informed by CBC News about where their ads were appearing.
Bell Media suspended advertising on X after it was informed that an ad for a subsidiary, the news division of Quebec TV network Noovo, appeared in the feed of the far-right fitness leader.
The ad appeared over a post that called journalists “priests of ruin” and featured the slogan “all journos are bastards.”
“Despite putting measures in place to protect Noovo from such a situation, it seems that X considered the offensive content from a third party to be moderate, which allowed our ad to appear alongside it,” Patrick Tremblay, a Bell Media spokesperson, said in a statement to CBC News last week.
“This situation is unacceptable. As a result, we have interrupted Bell Media advertising campaigns on X.”
Angus Reid, Sun Life cut ties with X
An ad for public opinion firm Angus Reid seeking survey participants appeared on an account called Anti White Watch, which researchers have noted spreads antisemitic and racist conspiracy theories.
“Our team met with X representatives in the past month to confirm that our ads account is set up with the most stringent sensitivity settings X offers. In this case, those controls appear to have failed,” Spencer Reynolds, director of marketing and communication at Angus Reid, said in an email.
“Angus Reid Forum has ceased all activity on X indefinitely pending a comprehensive review.”
Explosion of hate across social media platforms
Social media users from TikTok to X are being exposed to a deluge of different Islamophobic and antisemitic tropes — some of them perpetuated by people like Elon Musk, the owner of X.
The Appraisal Institute of Canada, an association of real estate valuation experts, paused its advertising campaign on X after it was informed its ads were appearing in the feeds of Carl Benjamin, Richard Spencer and an account linked to the white nationalist and antisemitic Groyper movement.
Ads for insurance giant Sun Life appeared in the feeds of multiple accounts of extremists, including Spencer’s, as part of a sponsored content campaign with the National Post.
Sun Life stopped advertising on X after Musk took over the platform last year, and the placement of the sponsored content ad was an error, a Sun Life representative said.
“We are very concerned that our ad appeared next to disturbing and hateful content and have had it removed from X,” Gannon Loftus, director of corporate communications, said in an email.
National Post-sponsored content bought by non-profits Mood Disorders Society of Canada and the Pedigree Foundation appeared in the feeds of Anti White Watch and Andrew Tate, a self-proclaimed misogynist influencer who is facing human trafficking charges in Romania. (Tate denies the charges.)
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mood Disorders Society of Canada said: “We do not support or endorse extremist views or any perspectives that could potentially harm those we serve.”
The spokesperson did not respond to a question about whether the organization intended to continue advertising on X.
Neither the National Post nor the Pedigree Foundation responded to emails sent by CBC News. (Disclosure: In 2015, prior to joining CBC News, Jonathan Montpetit did contract work for Postmedia’s sponsored content unit.)
Musk’s tumultuous tenure
Advertisers have been increasingly reticent about doing business with X since Musk took over the platform in October 2022. Ad revenues have dropped more than 50 per cent year-over-year in every month since Musk bought Twitter for an estimated $44 billion US, Reuters reported this fall.
Among his first moves was firing staff responsible for content moderation and disbanding an advisory group on harmful content. In late July, he changed the name to X from Twitter.
Musk, who is also CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, restored dozens of accounts that had been booted off the platform for violating community standards, including that of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
In July, Musk announced he was changing the name of Twitter to X. Among his first moves when he took over the platform in October 2022 was firing staff responsible for content moderation and disbanding an advisory group on harmful content. (Godofredo A. Vásquez/The Associated Press)
One study released in April found that hate speech levels on what was then still called Twitter quadrupled following Musk’s takeover.
“[Musk] has decided that anything goes, basically, unless he disagrees with it. And it’s been a disaster,” said Wendy Via, president and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a non-profit that monitors far-right activity and has worked with Twitter in the past.
When buying ads from X, advertisers can request they not appear alongside certain forms of content. But without systems in place to monitor and categorize content accurately, there are few assurances that an advertiser’s wishes are respected, Via said.
Devon MacDonald, president of the Toronto-based advertising firm Cairns Oneil, said he advised his clients last year to stop advertising on the platform.
“We reached out to Twitter at the time to ask them a little about what brand safety controls were going to be applied with this new vision for the platform, and they weren’t able to give us any satisfactory answer,” MacDonald said.
“A brand wants to communicate their brand message. They want to communicate with consumers in a positive way that puts their product in a positive position. Harmful content works against that for them.”
Spreading conspiracy theories costly
Musk’s own behaviour both on and off the social media platform has only compounded the unease felt by advertisers.
He has repeatedly used his account, which now has more than 165 million followers, to spread far-right conspiracy theories, including about an attack on former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband and about billionaire George Soros.
On Nov. 15, Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory, drawing widespread condemnation, including from the White House.
Musk has repeatedly used his account, which now has more than 165 million followers, to spread far-right conspiracy theories. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)
Within days, major brands, including the Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery and IBM, announced they were pausing advertising campaigns on X.
Musk later apologized for the antisemitic remark, calling it “the dumbest post I’ve ever done,” but he also lashed out at advertisers that had left the platform.
“If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go f–k yourself,” he told an audience in New York City in late November.
In recent weeks, Musk has boosted the “pizzagate” conspiracy theory, which falsely maintains that top Democrats are involved in a pedophile ring operated from a Washington, D.C., pizza shop.
“The recent comments from Elon Musk and the recent activity on the platform just solidifies our position and makes us feel comfortable with not directing our dollars that way,” MacDonald said.
X did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News.
How X’s ads work
The company recently sued the progressive media monitoring group Media Matters after it published findings that ads for major brands were being displayed in close proximity to hateful content.
In court documents, X said the findings were not representative of the average user’s experience of the platform and that only one per cent of measured ads in 2023 appeared alongside content deemed to harm brand safety.
CBC News discovered the Canadian ads mentioned above by using this journalist’s long-standing X account to search the feeds of 25 accounts and hashtags known to be associated with the far right. The process involved spot checks between Nov. 28 and Dec 8.
These companies and organizations were not the only ones whose ads appeared in the feeds of extremist accounts. CBC News also reviewed several hashtags and extremist accounts on X that contained no ads at all.
Why there’s a flood of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war
‘I have never seen this amount of misinformation and disinformation surrounding a conflict,’ said Layla Mashkoor, a Dubai-based associate editor at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab in Washington, D.C. Misinformation experts say X, formerly known as Twitter, has played a key role in the volume of false information surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.
Ad placement on X is determined by who a user follows, and what they post, search, view and interact with, the company says on its website.
According to the “Why this ad” function on X, the ads seen by CBC News were influenced by the journalist’s age, geographic location (Montreal) and inferred interests.
CBC News also consulted the X accounts of two non-journalists in Montreal to see what ads were displayed when scrolling the feeds of far-right accounts.
These searches revealed ads that were similar to those seen on the CBC journalist’s phone, including the B’nai Brith ad on Spencer’s account, the Pathways ads on the far-right fitness leader’s account and the Samsung ads on the same account.
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
