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Screen Time

Screen Time

By: TVO
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When the pandemic hit in 2020, it suddenly seemed like conspiracy theories were everywhere.

Did Bill Gates put a microchip in the vaccine? Is the World Economic Forum trying to take over the world? Was the pandemic orchestrated by a secret cabal of elites?

A recent poll found that 1 in 4 Canadians believe in online conspiracy theories. Which means that we’re no longer just living in different information bubbles. We’re living in different realities.

On this season of Screen Time, Taylor Owen and Supriya Dwivedi dive into the murky world of online conspiracy theories and misinformation. They’ll expose the bad actors trying to distort the truth for personal gain, and speak to the Canadians occupying these alternate realities to try and understand how they got there – and how we might bring them back.

Hosts:

Taylor Owen is the Director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University, and is one of the country’s foremost experts on mis and disinformation.

Supriya Dwivedi spent years trying to fact check misinformation as a talk radio host. She’s now a political commentator, and the Director of Policy and Engagement for the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University.

2025 TVO Politics & Government
Episodes
  • The Battle for Reality

    The Battle for Reality
    Feb 14 2024

    Misinformation is tearing our country apart, and trust in our institutions, and in each other, is at an all time low. Some experts think we're at a breaking point, and new technologies are only going to make misinformation more persuasive - and more corrosive. To learn about the importance of social media and AI regulation for the protection of our information ecosystem, we talk to Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen and tech regulation expert Sam Gregory.

    Is it possible to pull the country back from the brink? Or have we already lost the battle for reality? Peter Macleod talks us through one possible step in the right direction.

    Audio courtesy of C-SPAN and the PoliticsWatchDog Facebook page.

    Donate to TVO: http://tvo.org/give

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • The Top of the Pyramid

    The Top of the Pyramid
    Feb 7 2024

    A TikTok influencer with tens of thousands of followers is convinced that the world is controlled by an evil cabal of pedophiles. How does someone come to harbor such extreme views? And what happens to our politics - and our society - when those views start resonating with a growing number of people?

    In this episode, we meet Colin Big Bear Ross, a Freedom Convoy influencer who strongly believes in a number of conspiracy theories. Then we hear from Frank Graves, who helps us understand how bad the issue of polarization has really become. And finally, we take a look at these issues from the political figures' point of view with BC Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and MP Michelle Rempel Garner.

    Audio courtesy of @bigbearmovement on TikTok and the Harvard Kennedy School.

    Donate to TVO: http://tvo.org/give

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    26 mins
  • From Russia with Love

    From Russia with Love
    Jan 31 2024

    In the winter of 2022, thousands of Canadians descended on Ottawa for the Freedom Convoy. It was one of the largest displays of civil disobedience in the country's history - a movement by Canadians, for Canadians. But if that's the case, why did Russia's state controlled TV networks send correspondents there? And why did messaging groups devoted to the Convoy start posting press releases from the Kremlin?

    Was the Freedom Convoy a Russian influence operation? To find out, we talk with foreign interference and disinformation experts Caroline Orr Bueno, Marcus Kolga, and Aengus Bridgman.

    Audio courtesy of @RT_com on Twitter/X and Fox News on Youtube.

    Donate to TVO: http://tvo.org/give

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show More Show Less
    25 mins
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