taylor owen

Shaping Public Policy from Outside Government

Bela Sullivan — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 17:28:06 +0000

At a recent panel organized by the Max Bell Foundation, “Shaping Public Policy from Outside of Government,” moderator and fellow Paul Wells opened with a pointed observation that civil society actors are often invited to contribute to government consultations, but they are left wondering whether their input has any real effect. As he put it, many in Ottawa “don’t seem concerned with the concerns of civil society,” not necessarily out of indifference, but because of a lack of time, capacity, and the overwhelming volume of input in an age saturated by social media.

Taylor Owen and Helen A. Hayes on Protecting Canada’s Digital Sovereignty Through Unified Regulation | The Globe and Mail

isabela.sullivan@mcgill.ca — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:08:51 +0000

April 7, 2025 | Taylor Owen and Helen A. Hayes wrote an opinion piece arguing that Canada’s failure to regulate its digital space is no longer just a tech policy issue—it’s a national security concern. With rising disinformation and direct interference from the U.S., Canadians now view the United States as a greater foreign threat than China or Russia. Although the Trudeau government introduced several digital policy bills, including those addressing online harms, AI regulation, and cybersecurity, most were abandoned after Parliament was prorogued.

Taylor Owen on Combating Election Interference and Reimagining Canada’s Digital Policy | The Paul Wells Show

isabela.sullivan@mcgill.ca — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 17:31:47 +0000

April 16, 2025 | In an interview on The Paul Wells Show, Taylor Owen, founding director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at ��ɫֱ��, raised urgent concerns about online election interference in Canada. Drawing from his work with the Media Ecosystem Observatory, Owen explains how foreign and domestic actors attempt to sway public opinion through misinformation and platform manipulation. He emphasizes that while online interference is not always overt, its cumulative effect undermines democratic processes.

Taylor Owen on Canada’s Fragile Media Ecosystem and the Mainstreaming of Disinformation | CBC

isabela.sullivan@mcgill.ca — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 17:38:41 +0000

March 24, 2025 | In a recent interview with CBC, Taylor Owen, Director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, warned that Canada’s online media environment is more fragile and susceptible to manipulation than ever before. As trust in journalism declines, Owen explains, disinformation that once existed on the fringes is now entering the mainstream—largely through social media platforms.

Taylor Owen Interviews Jim Balsillie on How to Build a More Sovereign Canada | The Globe and Mail

isabela.sullivan@mcgill.ca — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 18:17:27 +0000

April 24, 2025 | With less than a week before the federal election, Taylor Owen sat down with Jim Balsillie—former co-CEO of Research in Motion and one of Canada’s most prominent business leaders—to discuss why Canada’s economy is falling behind and what must change. As Donald Trump escalates attacks on the Canadian economy and hints at turning Canada into the “51st state,” Balsillie argues the real threat to Canadian sovereignty isn’t Trump—it’s decades of political complacency and corporate capture.

Taylor Owen on Canadians’ Vulnerability to Election Disinformation | TVO Today

isabela.sullivan@mcgill.ca — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 18:30:42 +0000

April 23, 2025 | Taylor Owen, principal investigator for the Media Ecosystem Observatory, highlights the growing challenge of disinformation in Canada’s high-stakes federal election. In an interview with Steve Paikin on TVO Today, Owen explains how the rapid spread of false and misleading information online is making it increasingly difficult for voters to distinguish fact from fiction.

Taylor Owen on Canada’s Fragile Online Media and the Threat of Manipulation | Get Fact

isabela.sullivan@mcgill.ca — Fri, 25 Apr 2025 18:38:54 +0000

April 13, 2025 | In a recent interview, Taylor Owen warned that Canada’s online media environment is more fragile and susceptible to manipulation than ever before. As trust in journalism declines, he explained that political support for far-right parties abroad often backfires, making Canadian politicians cautious. He highlighted the challenges of detecting foreign interference on platforms like Twitter, especially without strong transparency laws such as the failed Online Harms Act.

Taylor Owen on Social media platforms’ election-integrity initiatives lack transparency | The Globe and Mail

pinaki.siwach@mcgill.ca — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:59:14 +0000

April 1, 2025 | Professor Taylor Owen spoke on the new social media regulations as the elections approaches closer. If social-media companies wanted to help improve election integrity, they could share what’s happening on their platforms with researchers, said Owen. X used to give researchers access to its application programming interface (API), or data, but now its most in-depth access level costs about $40,000 a month, mentioned Owen, which effectively shuts out Canadian researchers.

Taylor Owen on Eroding Journalism & Disinformation During an Election | CBC News

pinaki.siwach@mcgill.ca — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 16:38:10 +0000

March 24, 2025 | With trust in journalism eroding, disinformation once fringe is now mainstream. Much of it is spreading on social media. Professor Taylor Owen says the online media environment in Canada is more fragile and vulnerable to manipulation than ever before. A dangerous situation at the best of times even more so during an election.

Canada Faces an Information War | Toronto Star

pinaki.siwach@mcgill.ca — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 14:38:08 +0000

March 23, 2024 | An Opinion piece led by Professor Taylor Owen and Peter MacLeod delves into the challenges that stand clear against Canada. The country faces a war on two fronts: an economic campaign to weaken and ultimately annex us, and an information war to manipulate public opinion and destabilize our democracy. "As Canada enters a federal election campaign, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Taylor Owen on How Disinformation is Threatening Canada's Democracy

pinaki.siwach@mcgill.ca — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 21:30:45 +0000

March 6, 2025 | Taylor Owen explains Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s public inquiry into foreign interference that has identified disinformation as the most pressing danger to Canada’s democratic institutions. But what led to the creation of the Foreign Interference Commission in the first place? And how does social media platforms influence Canada’s information landscape and its sovereignty?

Taylor Owen on Europe's Strategic AI Shift Amid Geopolitical Fractures

pinaki.siwach@mcgill.ca — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 14:52:01 +0000

February 12, 2025 | Professor Taylor Owen writes about the "vibe-shift" of AI as he comes back from the Paris AI Action Summit. Owen explains how the governments are pivoting from regulating AI risks to aggressively pursuing foreign direct investment, and Europe faces a new era of AI adoption.

Taylor Owen on Uniform Social Media Regulations

pinaki.siwach@mcgill.ca — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 15:38:10 +0000

September 6, 2024 | Taylor Owen spoke about the online harms of social media and how having uniform social media regulations enforced across all digital platforms, can help with the online governance on The Star.

Machine Like Us Podcast Series | The Globe and Mail

pinaki.siwach@mcgill.ca — Tue, 07 May 2024 14:53:04 +0000

May 7, 2024 | We are living in an age of breakthroughs propelled by advances in artificial intelligence. Technologies that were once the realm of science fiction are now transpiring into our reality. Machine Like Us is a technology show where every other Tuesday Taylor Owen sits down with the people shaping this rapidly approaching future.

What the tick tock of online regulation says about our digital discourse | CBC Radio

keith.baybayon@mcgill.ca — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 17:08:29 +0000

March 17, 2024 | In this episode of The Sunday Magazine, Taylor Owen joins a discussion on digital discourse and the future of online safety regulation. The US House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that could lead to a nationwide ban against TikTok. Professor Owen speaks on Canada's standpoint with this decision, and how the federal government has launched a national security review of the video-sharing app.