Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante’s decision to restrict access to her social media accounts is being denounced by the opposition because it could stifle criticism.
Aref Salem, leader of the official opposition at city hall, says that Mme Plante and his party, Projet Montréal, limit citizens’ freedom of expression by blocking comments on X platforms and Instagram.
Currently, M’s X accountsme Plante and Projet Montréal only allow comments from people or organizations mentioned in the posts on these accounts. Comments on M’s Instagram postsme Plants are also limited, and it is not possible to identify them in an ephemeral publication, or “story”.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Aref Salem, leader of the official opposition at Montreal City Hall
The mayor’s press secretary, Catherine Cadotte, indicated in a written response to The Canadian Press that “the Montreal mayor’s team has limited the response options in comments under her publications on the social network X in order to limit the discriminatory, violent, racist, harassing, hateful, homophobic, disrespectful, sexist and defamatory remarks that are unfortunately found on the platform.”
“Although all of the Mayor of Montreal’s digital platforms are places for discussion, it is essential that the tone of the exchanges remains respectful,” she said.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Mr. Salem said that social media is one of the only ways for citizens to interact with the mayor.
Citizens can voice their concerns in person during question period at city council meetings, but they only have 90 seconds to ask their question.
Having a social media feed is about connecting with the population and asking for their opinion. It has to be an interaction. That’s not how democracy works. It’s not ethical to prevent the population of Montreal from interacting with the mayor.
Aref Salem, leader of the official opposition at Montreal City Hall
Mr. Salem argued that Mr.me Plante could instead deal with online harassment by blocking individual accounts or reporting them to police. “When you decide to be a public figure, it goes hand in hand with the position,” he said. “When you want to be representative of the population, you have to be representative of the entire population.”
“Manage on a case-by-case basis”
Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, believes that a “blanket ban on comments” constitutes an unreasonable limitation on citizens’ freedom of expression. Instead, elected officials should assess inappropriate comments on a case-by-case basis, she said.
“I would argue that elected officials with significant resources should not have it both ways. If they choose to have access to social media and use it in their work, they should also accept that their constituents may want to comment on their work on that same public platform.”
Last June, the Quebec government passed a law that provides for fines of up to $1,500 for anyone who intimidates or harasses a politician, despite criticism that the law could threaten freedom of expression.
Mme Plante is not the first politician to block comments on social media accounts. Federal MPs from all parties have restricted comments on their X accounts, including Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, Liberal MP Adam van Koeverden and NDP MP Laurel Collins.
Last year, the Governor General’s office announced it was closing comments on all of its social media accounts due to “an increase in abusive, misogynistic and racist comments on social media and online platforms, including a greater number of violent threats.” Governor General Mary Simon, the first Indigenous person to hold the position, was appointed in 2021.
Although the issue of restricting comments has not received widespread attention, there has been considerable public debate over whether politicians have the right to block individual accounts, preventing users from seeing their posts in their entirety.
In 2018, three Ottawa residents sought a court order declaring that then-Mayor Jim Watson had violated their constitutional right to free speech by blocking them on the social media platform then known as Twitter – now XM Watson has ultimately settled the case by unblocking all accounts and said he acknowledged that his Twitter feed was in fact a public account.
Last September, a Federal Court judge ordered Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to unblock Rebel News founder Ezra Levant after the right-wing media personality claimed the minister was limiting his ability to participate in debate on matters of public interest.
South of the border, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that government officials who block criticism on social media can sometimes be sued for violating the Constitution’s First Amendment right to free speech.