Bureaucrats monitor online forums

CBC NEWS : Sunday, May 23, 2010 | 10:43 AM ET

The next time you post an opinion in an online forum or a Facebook group message board, don't be surprised if you get a rebuttal from a federal employee. The government is looking for ways to monitor online chatter about political issues and correct what it perceives as misinformation. The move started recently with a pilot project on the East Coast seal hunt. A Toronto-based company called Social Media Group has been hired to help counter some information put forward by the anti-sealing movement. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has paid the firm $75,000 "to monitor social activity and help identify … areas where misinformation is being presented and repeated as fact," Simone MacAndrew, a department spokesperson, said in an email. (More)