Nearly 11,000 abusive tweets targeted Vancouver and Surrey election candidates

Nearly 11,000 abusive tweets were directed at candidates running for office in Vancouver and Surrey during the 2022 municipal elections, according to a new study.

The research, conducted by the non-profit Samara Centre for Democracy, is intended to provide insight into the role that a toxic digital environment plays in local democracies. It’s part of a multi-year project to measure online abuse of Canadian political candidates.

“If this is a condition of work for somebody who is going to be a political representative, that’s going to scare people off from wanting to represent their community,” said Beatrice Wayne, research manager at the Samara Centre.

The vast majority of abusive tweets — over 9,800 — were directed at candidates in Vancouver. One-in-five of those were directed at incumbent Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, who received over 2,000 abusive tweets during the election period, the most of any candidate in Vancouver or Surrey.