The federal government has been pretty quiet about just what they plan to do about Xitter, given the recent explosion of “deep fake” nudes and child sexual abuse images that its digital asbestos chatbot has been creating, to say nothing of the fact that the site has been gamed to be a far-right disinformation platform. In spite of all of this, government department and ministers continue to use the platform, and feel they have little choice given that its adoption was once wide-spread (but now it’s a haunted house full of bots interacting with one another and gaming each other’s replies).
Of course not. That would make the tech bros that Solomon is sucking up to very angry. What an absolutely useless waste of a Cabinet minster.
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-11T06:22:14.369Z
In spite of media reports saying that Canada, the UK and another country were looking at joining forces to impose some kind of ban, that clearly isn’t happening, nor would I expect it to because both Mark Carney and Evan Solomon have bought into the digital asbestos hype, and have been promising few regulations for the tech bros because they don’t want to “stifle innovation” never mind that we are seeing in real time what online harms look like. Saying that these images are illegal is not enough because it requires people alerting the police to specific images that the chatbot generates, and then police resources to investigate and charge the individual before prosecution. This is too big of a problem for individual prosecutions.
The government has plenty of tools at their disposal, but they are afraid to use them because they know that Elon Musk or any of the other tech bros will go crying to Daddy Trump if someone tries to regulate them, and Carney is too keen to get a deal from Trump that he keeps capitulating on regulating these web giants and the tech bros behind them. But that might require someone like Solomon to demonstrate a modicum of courage or backbone, which don’t seem to be qualities he possesses.
Ukraine Dispatch
Russians attacked Kyiv late Sunday, setting fire in one city district. A thousand apartment blocks in Kyiv are still without heat after Friday’s attack.
Good reads:
- Kody Blois, who will be joining Carney on his trip to China, says they are hoping to “recalibrate” the relationship. (Remember who held whose citizens hostage?)
- François-Philippe Champagne is in Washington to talk trade and critical minerals.
- In spite of threats made by the US ambassador, new pre-clearance facilities are being built in order to facilitate faster travel and trade.
- There are frustrations that francophone immigrants outside of Quebec are being given priority over those with higher scores as part of their evaluations.
- The NDP leadership race doesn’t seem to be attracting much attention, as the fundraising and membership deadlines close in.
- Kevin Carmichael muses about the affordability crisis as more perception than reality, while governments and business continue to focus on the wrong thing.
- Susan Delacourt talks to Bob Rae about the moment we’re in globally, and why Carney and his team have a different job than just sounding the alarm.
- My weekend column points to the need to start planning for a post-NATO future, at least in its current form, as the Americans are making the alliance untenable.
Odds and ends:
New episodes released early for C$7+ subscribers. This week, @smsaideman.bsky.social and I talk Greenland, Article V, and why this could be the end of NATO as we know it. #cdnpoli
— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-01-12T01:13:50.986Z
Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.