Thread by @CBCFletch

So here @jkenney accuses the federal Liberals of giving a $2.5M grant to a "left wing special interest group":

https://twitter.com/jkenney/status/1154043748604510209

The grant, as it turns out, was actually awarded under the PREVIOUS Conservative gov't, of which Kenney was a member.

#ableg #cdnpoli (1/n)

Oops. How does this happen?

Well, it perhaps offers a case-in-point of the way misinformation can be born & then spread through the intersection of:

• traditional media
• social media
• politics
• confirmation bias / not reading the article

#ableg #cdnpoli (2/n)

It starts here with a column from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation which doesn't mention Trudeau or the Liberals anywhere: torontosun.com/opinion/column…

But, for some reason, the Toronto Sun slaps a photo of Trudeau at the top, and the Edmonton Sun picks it up.

#ableg #cdnpoli (3/n)

The photo/headline combo gives the impression the column is about the current government.

Of course, if you read the column, you'll see it mentions neither Trudeau nor the Liberals, but how many people actually READ the article these days?

#ableg #cdnpoli (4/n)

So Kenney's Twitter account tweets out the column, apparently assuming it's about Trudeau & the Liberals.

It gets hundreds of likes and retweets, largely from people who appear to assume the same.

#ableg #cdnpoli (5/n)

But as several people, notably @Andrew_leach, then point out, the $2.5M grant was actually awarded on April 1, 2015.

Trudeau wasn't in power then. Harper was. And Kenney was in cabinet.

Here's the @SSHRC_CRSH grant info (see p 58): sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/transparency-t…

#ableg #cdnpoli (6/n)

After 5 hours, Kenney's tweet with the incorrect info is still up.

But this tweet from @Andrew_leach now actually has more likes & retweets, so maybe that says something:

https://twitter.com/andrew_leach/status/1154059083617579009

Anyway, an easy way to avoid all this?

Read. The. Article.

#ableg #cdnpoli (7/n)