Thank you.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.

My name is Cherie Henderson, and I'm an assistant deputy minister and assistant director of requirements at CSIS.

It is an honour to join you today and to have the opportunity to contribute to your important discussion on social media and foreign entities. I am joined by my colleague Peter Madou, who is Director General, Strategic Bureau.

Today, we hope to provide insights to this committee on the national security concerns related to data sharing with foreign entities like the People's Republic of China and the role that CSIS plays in ensuring the protection of Canada's prosperity, national security interests and the safety of Canadians.

Foreign state actors leverage all viable means to carry out their foreign interference activities, and social media platforms are ideal tools.

Threat actors, including the Russian Federation and the PRC, exploit media to spread disinformation, leveraging suggestive algorithms to amplify echo chambers and manipulating content for unsuspecting viewers. This utility was indeed evident in the 2016 United States presidential election, and it continues to be of concern in Canada. These same characteristics of social media are also weaponized by extremist threat actors to radicalize and recruit users.

Social media platforms are of interest to threat actors because of the data they generate and collect. Social media platforms run surveys, collate datasets and request access to users' personal data through terms and conditions, enabling access to users' photo albums, messages and contact lists. Although some of this data is benign in isolation, when collected and collated on a massive scale, it can provide detailed patterns and insights into populations, public opinion and individual networks. Canadians should therefore be aware of the privacy considerations at play when choosing to share their personal information online, especially when it is with foreign-owned companies that are based outside of Canada or our allied countries.

Authoritarian states like the PRC leverage big data, including from the private sector, to carry out their foreign interference activities. While government use of data in Canada is strictly governed to respect ethical, legal and privacy considerations, authoritarian states are not similarly limited. The PRC uses this unfettered access to harvest data at a scale that outpaces all other countries in the world combined, while fiercely protecting its own information.

Emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, will only further enable its nefarious activities. Through its 2017 National Intelligence Law, the PRC compels individuals, organizations and institutions—including social media platforms operating in China—to provide mass information to the Government of China. This information is then used to assist the PRC security and intelligence services in carrying out a wide variety of intelligence work. PRC-based organizations and PRC citizens are also required to protect the secrecy of all state intelligence work. This policy supports and is reflective of the PRC's bold and sustained attempts to conduct foreign interference in Canada.

It is imperative that Canada builds resilience against foreign interference. This includes bolstering awareness of the PRC's ability to harvest and use Canadians' information obtained through social media to conduct foreign interference.

For example, CSIS' X account recently posted a thread on how PRC intelligence services used LinkedIn to target Canadians by deceptively posing as interested business contacts looking for consultants in Canada, so that they would unknowingly provide privileged information that is of interest to the PRC to trained intelligence officers.

Now more than ever, protecting Canada's national security requires a whole‑of‑society effort that begins with informed and trusted discussions among communities, academia and governments at all levels. Individual users of social media need to be aware of the risks when sharing personal data with platforms. CSIS remains a committed partner in this effort, and our team of dedicated and talented professionals are working hard to keep Canadians safe, secure and prosperous.

I will be pleased to answer any questions.

Thank you.

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