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David Raymond Amos‏ @DavidRayAmos
Replying to @DavidRayAmos @FloryGoncalves and 49 others
"Candidates are scrubbing their digital pasts, but is that ethical?"

Of Course NOT I wish folks would Google my name and read what is left of my blogs, my Twitter account and the comments I have been making within CBC that still exist.. 


#cdnpoli#nbpoli 



https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/social-media-election-ethics-politics-1.5314878

Candidates are scrubbing their digital pasts, but is that ethical?

 

'I see it more as people trying to erase mistakes ... as opposed to totally trying to reinvent themselves'

David Burke· CBC News· Posted: Oct 13, 2019 6:00 AM AT




Some political candidates are deleting their past comments on social media, or in some cases, getting rid of accounts entirely to better control their image. (Ink Drop/Shutterstock)

A little editing here and a bit of deleting there, some candidates running for office have taken to scrubbing away unwanted bits of their online history, while some political hopefuls shut down social media accounts.

But is that ethical?

"Of course candidates are going to want to clean their Twitter up before they completely defeat their own chances of being elected," said Lori Turnbull, a Dalhousie University professor who studies political ethics and is director of the university's School of Public Administration.

Last week, racist and sexist tweets from Sydney-Victoria Liberal candidate Jaime Battiste were unearthed by the Toronto Sun. Soon after, Battiste locked down his @youngmedicine33 Twitter account, not allowing public access. Since then, he appears to have deleted the account. His official Liberal Party account, @JaimeBattiste, is still up and running.

Last year, provincial Progressive Conservative candidate Andrew Lawton admitted he deleted racist, homophobic tweets three years before he decided to run in the Ontario election, yet those tweets still came back to haunt him. He said in an interview last year that those tweets no longer represented his views. He did not win the riding of London West.

Turnbull said a little nip and tuck of a candidate's online image is to be expected.


Jaime Battiste is the Liberal candidate in Sydney-Victoria. He appears to have deleted the Twitter account where he made sexist and racist tweets. (Gary Mansfield/CBC)

She said candidates want to clear out any comments or posts they made that could reflect badly on them and might not match up with their current beliefs.

"I think we are doing this throughout life, it's not just politicians," said Turnbull. "[We do it] when we apply for a job, when we meet a new person, whatever the case may be. We're all Googling each other."

"I see it more as people trying to erase mistakes they've made as opposed to totally trying to reinvent themselves."

She said there's no point for a politician to keep a tweet or social media post up if it doesn't reflect how they feel now.
 

Bill Capes, a People's Party of Canada candidate in Ontario, disabled his Twitter account after racist, transphobic tweets he made were uncovered. (People's Party Website)

Turnbull said if someone is trying to erase a one-time mistake, it's "almost understandable why someone would do that. They're running because they want to win."

But Turnbull said this online editing crosses a line when candidates start erasing vast swaths of their online communications on social media or other platforms.

Cape Breton University political science professor Tom Urbaniak agrees with her. He said if a candidate has deleted chunks of their public social media posts or online interactions, then voters need to start asking some serious questions.

"What have you culled? What have your views been in the past? Even if your views have since evolved. And how can we be sure that what you are standing on now is what you legitimately espouse?" said Urbaniak.
 

Tom Urbaniak is a political science professor at Cape Breton University. (Tom Ayers/CBC)

There's also tremendous pressure on candidates to make sure their online presence is close to spotless, said Turnbull. She said if some candidates are deleting problematic posts, others may feel forced to do so as well or else they could look badly.

Urbaniak believes some parties may even tell their candidates which items they want removed.
Despite the deleting and extensive vetting, many candidates have been dropped after their past online posts were unearthed.
After the federal election is over, Urbaniak believes parties will examine how they vet potential candidates, how candidates construct a public profile and discuss ways to deal with revelations about candidates dug up from old social media posts.

But he doesn't want parties to force future candidates to sanitize their backgrounds.

"I hope we don't get to the point where candidates are locking down everything, that they're rewriting their entire past out of history, simply so they can almost be like automatons for their parties," said Urbaniak.

He said a dynamic and sincere political process needs candidates to passionately represent their area's interests, and that means they need to have a history, blemishes and all.







83 Comments





Marguerite Deschamps
This is proof that no one in the past & present has ever had the liberty of expression nor will anyone have it in the future.




Marguerite Deschamps
The whole Parliaments up to the 1970s would be most apprehensive to run for political office in this day and age when one considers the not-so politically correct wording in the Criminal Code pertaining to sexual offences, ending with former section 148 of the Code.













David Raymond Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise








David MacKinnon
I got ya politics seem to be fun for reporters and the public alike, good bless the cancel culture making the political horse race fun.... of course they should be allowed to edit their past, ps I know this report who when she was 11 trashed the lunches of all her team mates at a soccer game.


Benjamin Dover 













Sebastian Leblanc
Considering Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in violation of ethics, and he is the leader of Canada, the message he sends is that it is okay to violate ethics.


Zapata Rigoreto
Reply to @Sebastian Leblanc: I'm not sure how this relates to the story but nice deflection.


Benjamin Dover 



David Raymond Amos
Content disabled 
Reply to @Benjamin Dover: Methinks everybody knows Mr Leblanc is not confused it is all the anonymous trolls who are busy trying to confuse the issue about ethics N'esy Pas? 















David Raymond Amos
"Candidates are scrubbing their digital pasts, but is that ethical?"

Of Course NOT I wish folks would Google my name and read what is left of my blogs (not deleted by your truly), my Twitter account and the comments I have been making within CBC that still exist.














Andrew McLaren
Social media truly is a Pandoras Box for anyone interested in becoming a public figure, even worse now that others acting in bad faith can post deepfakes among other false or misleading allegations. Often enough, it is easy to selectively quote something out of context and without qualification, to make it seem that somebody made an outrageous statement (all caps and multiple exclamation marks follow).


David Raymond Amos 











Patrick Nugent
If they have to scrub their social media they have things to hide.


David Raymond Amos 
















Darius Spence
nothing is ever truly deleted on the net, so they can do what they want, someone industrious enough will find it.


David Raymond Amos 







Kevin Moore
They are politicians they do not have ethics.


David Raymond Amos  













John Sollows
Considering that we seem to expect perfection in every public representative and condemn any who show imperfections, I don't blame them for "scrubbing."

At least these people have the guts to run for impossible jobs of high responsibility and little or no thanks.


David Raymond Amos 

















Ted King
Why anyone would have a Twitter or Facebook account is beyond me. Never joined, never will.


David Raymond Amos  

















John Chester
These are the rules the left have adopted, your past defines you, to them people can't learn/grow or change their minds.


Tim Segulin 


















David Sampson
Every “normal” human being acted in inappropriate ways as teenagers. If we insist that our candidates are as pure as the Virgin Mary we will never be able to attract qualified candidates for public service.


Tony Thomas 















Alex Forbes
Better yet: don't be in social media period. Then there is nothing to scrub












Rick Bailey
In my opinion there is a line. If a questionable tweet or indiscretion was made while the individual was an active politician then they should be fair game. If a questionable behaviour was done several years before politics and now publicly denounced they should be entitled to a fair break. Would it be fair to call someone who has been clean and sober for a couple of decades a drunk or addict now just to denounce their good intentions today?


David Raymond Amos


David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Rick Bailey: Remember me? 













Paul Peacock
People change. Who hasn't regretted past statements, transgressions and/or deeds? I have no problem with people deleting past Twitter and/or Facebook accounts. The only argument for keeping them isn't ethical, it is so others can muck rake.


David Raymond Amos 















David Frank
just one look at the whole cornwallis fiasco and you can see some folks like to "scrub" history on most issues



















Colin Calnan
If individuals have been known to have had social media accounts, and these accounts disappear or shrink considerably when the individual runs for office, the disappearance of an online history will be noticed. And at that point exactly what was deleted will become a major point of interest.



David Raymond Amos
Reply to @Colin Calnan: You take that fact to the Federal Reserve Bank particularly when it concerns my litigation against Feds on both sides of the the Medicine Line 














Al Kennedy
Rules are very different for some people. Justin Trudeau and Wab Kinew are the best examples of that.  


Ben Brown
Reply to @Al Kennedy:
False claims of professional accreditation?




David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @Al Kennedy: YUP
  

David Raymond Amos 
Reply to @Ben Brown: You should know 


Ben Brown
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
You don't?


David Raymond Amos

Ben Brown
Reply to @David Raymond Amos:
You don't know what you know?
That, I don't find surprising, in the least.


David Raymond Amos