OTTAWA — Twitter has taken down a post by People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier after he insulted individual reporters on social media and shared their contact information.
In a tweet Wednesday, Bernier called three journalists from mainstream news outlets “idiots” and listed their emails, writing: “They want to play dirty, we will play dirty too.”
He encouraged his 160,000 followers to contact the reporters, posting excerpts of their requests for comment after Monday’s federal election as evidence of what he deemed “disgusting smear jobs.”
The Canadian Association of Journalists says journalists have a legal and ethical obligation to send questions to politicians and that going after reporters for doing their job is “unacceptable and dangerous.”
A Twitter Canada spokesman says the company took enforcement action against Bernier’s account for violating its information privacy policy.
The People’s Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2021.
The Canadian Press
