Murray Wood: Who's scary... and who's scary good?
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week, in a specia...
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada says it’s moving away from the social media platform X.
In a farewell post Wednesday to its more than 45,000 subscribers, the top court said it will focus its communication efforts on other platforms.
The court invited people to follow its activities on its LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube accounts.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Stéphanie Bachand said the court will concentrate on “platforms that allow us to best serve the public and provide relevant information about the court’s work within our limited resources.”
“For now, the court’s account on X will remain visible, but will no longer be actively updated,” she said.
According to the court’s account profile, it joined the platform in 2015 when it was known as Twitter.
In 2022, billionaire Elon Musk purchased Twitter and subsequently rebranded it as X. Musk publicly backed Donald Trump’s 2024 bid for the U.S. presidency and now serves as an adviser to his administration.
Trump has openly taunted Canada by suggesting it should become a U.S. state and has repeatedly threatened to impose broad tariffs on Canadian products.
The Supreme Court’s move away from X comes at a time of heightened concerns about the platform’s moderation of hateful expression and its use of personal information.
The Treasury Board Secretariat, which oversees federal communication policy, said Wednesday that departments are free to use a variety of social media platforms for communication purposes “based on their respective needs and objectives.”
“Treasury Board policy instruments do not prescribe nor prohibit any specific social media platform for departmental use,” said the Treasury Board Secretariat.
As of Wednesday, more than 6,000 people had signed a parliamentary petition, initiated by Toronto resident Duong Thai Pham, that calls for X to be banned from all government agencies’ communication channels.
The petition accuses X of failing to “perform adequate moderation of hateful expression” and prevent the spread of disinformation and misinformation.
New Democrat MP Brian Masse asked federal privacy commissioner Philippe Dufresne earlier this week to investigate the effects of allowing X to be used on government devices, and whether the platform is placing Canadians’ “personal information in jeopardy.”
In an interview, Masse expressed concern about “facilitating, promoting or endorsing” Musk’s social media platform, and possibly opening the door to manipulation of users’ information.
In a response Wednesday to Masse, Dufresne said he would look into whether X complies with Canada’s private-sector privacy law with respect to the platform’s collection, use and disclosure of Canadians’ personal information to train artificial intelligence models.
Halifax Regional Municipality Coun. Laura White brought forward a motion this month asking for a staff report on the feasibility of removing X as a means of communication for the municipality.
“The reason for the timing … is just the alignment of the owner of this platform with the current government in the U.S., the same government that is suggesting we become a state,” said White, who represents the district of Halifax South Downtown.
— With files from Jesmeen Gill
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2025.
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
