India Accused of Election Meddling as Canada Warns of Foreign Interference

On 24 March 2025, The Guardian report­ed that alle­ga­tions of Indi­an inter­fer­ence had dis­rupt­ed Canada’s fed­er­al elec­tion cam­paign, with offi­cials warn­ing of sophis­ti­cat­ed dis­in­for­ma­tion efforts from mul­ti­ple nations. The arti­cle begins:

The spec­tre of inter­fer­ence by India has already rocked the ear­ly days of Canada’s fed­er­al elec­tion, with offi­cials warn­ing that sophis­ti­cat­ed efforts from oth­er hos­tile nations are expect­ed in the com­ing weeks. As Cana­di­ans pre­pare to cast bal­lots on 28 April, senior offi­cials say that India, Chi­na, Pak­istan and Iran are all expect­ed to make efforts to sub­vert the nation­al vote through increas­ing­ly sophis­ti­cat­ed dis­in­for­ma­tion cam­paigns. The use of arti­fi­cial-intel­li­gence tools is like­ly to fig­ure promi­nent­ly in efforts to deceive vot­ers and sway dias­po­ra com­mu­ni­ties. Ear­li­er this year, a land­mark inquiry into for­eign inter­fer­ence found that infor­ma­tion manip­u­la­tion is the biggest risk to demo­c­ra­t­ic insti­tu­tions. “Most threat actors remain like­ly to con­duct threat activ­i­ties and have like­ly adapt­ed their trade­craft to fur­ther con­ceal their for­eign-inter­fer­ence activ­i­ty, mak­ing it even more chal­leng­ing to detect,” Vanes­sa Lloyd, deputy direc­tor of oper­a­tions for Canada’s spy agency and chair of the secu­ri­ty and intel­li­gence threats to elec­tions task­force, told reporters ear­li­er this week as the agency laid out its plan to blunt the effects of inter­fer­ence cam­paigns. Between late Jan­u­ary and ear­ly Feb­ru­ary, Chi­na is believed to have tar­get­ed the Lib­er­al lead­er­ship bid of the for­mer finance min­is­ter Chrys­tia Free­land, in a “mali­cious” cam­paign on WeChat that was viewed as many as 3m times, the secu­ri­ty and intel­li­gence threats to elec­tions task­force said in a news release. On Wednes­day, the Globe and Mail report­ed that for­mer Lib­er­al lead­er­ship hope­ful Chan­dra Arya had been dis­qual­i­fied amid con­cerns over his rela­tion­ship with India and con­cerns he could be sus­cep­ti­ble to out­side influence.

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Key Points:

• Alle­ga­tions of Indi­an inter­fer­ence have dis­rupt­ed Canada’s fed­er­al elec­tion cam­paign, with offi­cials warn­ing of sophis­ti­cat­ed dis­in­for­ma­tion efforts from mul­ti­ple nations.
• Senior offi­cials expect India, Chi­na, Pak­istan, and Iran to attempt to sub­vert the nation­al vote using AI tools to deceive vot­ers and sway dias­po­ra communities.
• For­mer Lib­er­al lead­er­ship hope­ful Chan­dra Arya was dis­qual­i­fied over con­cerns about his rela­tion­ship with India and poten­tial sus­cep­ti­bil­i­ty to out­side influence.
• The Cana­di­an prime min­is­ter, Mark Car­ney, and Con­ser­v­a­tive leader Pierre Poilievre have both faced ques­tions regard­ing for­eign inter­fer­ence in their campaigns.

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