Toxicity on the campaign trail

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ABOVE THE FOLD

HOW TOXIC 2022 WAS — Politics can seem more toxic than ever, thanks in part to social media. Now, with the Samara Centre for Democracy’s online tracker, we know that the 2022 Ontario election campaign was no different — and have the data to back it up.

Why it matters: Samara deployed its SAMbot tracker to “explore how online toxicity is a barrier to civic engagement and participation in our democracy,” noting that political vitriol tends to be at its worst during campaign season. The tracker collected data from online abuse directed at all candidates with an active Twitter account. Here’s what they found.

By the numbers: Of the 684,479 tweets analyzed, 56,482 tweets identified as “likely toxic” — roughly 8.3 per cent, or one in 12 tweets. About 1,039 contained sexually explicit content, 1,961 hurled identity attacks, 3,612 were considered threats, 10,719 had profanity, and 55,334 lobbed insults.

The biggest targets: DOUG FORD — “accounting for over a third (38 per cent) …