U of R professor discusses parties digging up dirt on social media

A political science professor believes digging up social media posts and past actions on candidates from your opponent’s party is the modern version of classic attack ads.

Recently, both the NDP and the Saskatchewan Party have found posts from candidates on the other side and used them for criticism.

The Saskatchewan Party found posts from Regina Elphinstone-Centre NDP candidate Meara Conway in which she criticized tarsands and the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. That stance goes against the NDP’s platform.

Daryl Cooper resigned as the Sask. Party candidate for Saskatoon Eastview after posts in which he appeared to support conspiracy group QAnon and promote unproven theories that COVID-19 is caused by solar radiation.

It wasn’t the NDP that found those posts, but shortly after Cooper’s replacement, Chris Guérette, was named, the NDP put out a press release criticizing her.

The release shared posts in which Guérette supported the federal Liberal Party in the 2015 election.

“Was Scott Moe aware of this candidate’s strong support for Justin Trudeau? If so — it makes you wonder if Scott Moe’s anti-Trudeau rhetoric is all talk,” it said.

Jim Farney, associate professor of politics and international studies at the University of Regina, said this type of attack is nothing new. It has just taken a new shape in the digital age.

“This is something called ‘opposition research.’ It has gone on for a very long time. What social media has done is that since we live more of our lives in public now, the line between an off-hand comment to a friend and something that’s publicly ‘dig-uppable’ gets pretty blurry,” he explained.

He said it can be a useful campaign tactic.

“It’s a delicate balance. We don’t really like to admit it, but negative ads are pretty effective. This is kind of a sub-genre of negative advertising. They’re effective because they’re often true. You can’t do negative false advertising, or you would get sued for libel … They tend to be fairly easy to target,” Farney said.

However, he said there are some drawbacks to the practice.

“They’re most effective at energizing people who already support you to vote. They’re not great at convincing people on the other side to join you … If you use them too much, you start to look like the party that has nothing constructive to say,” he continued.

“You could say it’s an image issue, or you could say it’s an arms race.”

Conway, Cooper and Guérette were all recently targeted for social media posts. Cooper resigned, while Guérette and Conway will still be running in the election.

Alex Nau, the Sask. Party candidate for Regina Rosemont, also had questionable actions from his past uncovered on social media. He apologized for playing a game which involved what he called a “disrespectful action” towards women at the Craven Country Thunder festival.

It was unearthed after a Regina Leader-Post article from 2016 made the rounds on social media.

Nau will still be allowed to run.

“This behaviour was clearly juvenile, inappropriate and disrespectful and is not condoned by the Saskatchewan Party,” the party said in a statement provided to media. “Mr. Nau did disclose this and communicated his regret and understanding of how his behaviour was disrespectful.

“Many have made mistakes at a younger age. The Saskatchewan Party takes the position that if one has learned from their mistakes and corrected their behaviour, it should not disqualify you from running for office. Accordingly, Mr. Nau will remain a candidate.”

How does digging up social media posts on your opponents affect political discourse in the province? NDP Leader Ryan Meili gave his response.

“It’s something that we should maybe have a discussion about. How much do we want to dig into people’s social media? The further back you go, the more murky it gets, it’s true,” he said during a media conference Monday.

Sask. Party Leader Scott Moe was unavailable for comment on the practice of finding old posts for negative ads.