[Politics] Twitter's time in Canadian politics began with an apology — and then it got worse

[-_-Moltres-_-]

 

"I thank the honourable member," responded Peter Milliken, Speaker at the time. "I assume that 'tweeting' means it went on Twitter."

Dosanjh's point of order marked the arrival in Canada of a social media platform that promoted both dialogue and excess — a tool that both enriched debate and created new ways to do things we would later regret.

Thirteen years later, Twitter seems to be teetering on the brink of collapse. Even if it carries on in some shape or form, its time as one of the predominant forums in public life may be nearing an end. Many users have already withdrawn from the platform or reduced their presence.

Whenever and however the Twitter era comes to an end, its impact on Canadian politics will have been great — but not entirely good.

There is a decent chance that you're not a regular user of Twitter. Most Canadians aren't. But the platform has an outsized impact on the political life of this country because most Canadian politicians, journalists, pundits, political strategists, pollsters, lobbyists and partisans do use Twitter — along with a significant number of academics, policy wonks and subject matter experts.

It also hasn't been all bad. It gave politicians a new way to communicate with voters, and it created a new way for voters to hold politicians to account. It facilitated the spread of news and information with incredible speed and breadth.

It elevated new and underrepresented voices and those voices enriched the wider dialogue. In certain ways, Twitter helped bring more nuance to the political debate. Think of every academic or historian who has used a Twitter thread to illuminate a complicated topic.

That, sadly, isn't all that might be said about Twitter's performance as a modern public square.

 

As much as it has helped expose users to important information and valuable voices, it has also spread misinformation, disinformation, harassment and general nastiness. It prizes and rewards snap judgments, hot takes, outrage, condemnation, mockery, doomsaying and disagreement.

It sped up the news cycle to a dizzying degree. It elevates the most extreme opinions, offers ample opportunity for bad-faith actors and is a terrible proxy for actual public opinion.

If previous media eras reduced politics to soundbites, Twitter reduced it even further — to hashtags. At times, the House of Commons seemed to be little more than a fancy studio for recording video clips to be pushed out on MPs' Twitter feeds.

For all of these reasons, it might be tempting to think Canadian politics would be better off without Twitter. But even if Twitter were to disappear tomorrow, there is no going back to a time before social media — just as there is no going back to a time before television or radio or newspapers

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/twitter-politics-minority-report-wherry-1.6663192