Our democracy relies on a common set of facts, reliable sources of information, and the ability for citizens to express themselves freely. The increase in harmful content online, including misinformation and disinformation, is a threat to freedom of expression and democratic values.
The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage, and the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, today announced more than $1.2 million in funding for 16 research projects that help to counter and educate about online harms, misinformation, and disinformation. These projects were selected following an annual call for proposals that was launched in July 2022 by the Digital Citizen Contribution Program (DCCP).
The DCCP is one component of Canadian Heritage's Digital Citizen Initiative (DCI), which promotes civic, news, and digital media literacy through funding third-party educational activities and programming to help citizens become resilient against disinformation.
Minister Rodriguez and Minister LeBlanc also announced today a new $1.5-million targeted DCCP call-for-proposals to fund projects that will raise awareness about tools and services offered by non-government organizations and online platforms and services to counter online harms against kids and more generally hate speech, incitement to violence, child sexual exploitation material, and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images.
