Editorial: Holding the line on truth

OpinionsThe Link — Published March 17, 2026 0 minutes

You probably won’t know it’s a lie for days, if at all. And by then, the story will have already done what it was designed to do: be shared, repeated and absorbed into the endless noise that fills our screens. 

This is what the information landscape looks like now. Artificial intelligence has made mass deception effortless. 

This is already visible in North American politics. During the 2025 Canadian federal election campaign, researchers tracked a surge of AI-generated political images and fake news posts circulating across social media, including pages impersonating outlets like CBC and CTV to push fabricated stories.

Researchers have also uncovered networks of so-called “content farms” using artificial intelligence to generate political misinformation at scale. A BBC investigation found Facebook pages run from overseas that post AI-generated images and fabricated news stories about politicians, often disguised as legitimate news outlets.

Manipulated political content has become easier than ever to produce. AI tools can now generate convincing clips of politicians appearing to say or do things they never actually said or did. 

In 2024, a deepfake video of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland circulated online promoting a fraudulent investment platform. 

The video was formatted to look like a legitimate broadcast from CBC News and CTV News, complete with fake reporters introducing the segment. In the clip, the fabricated Freeland appeared to encourage Canadians to invest their money in a supposed AI trading program.

Health reporting has also been severely affected by online misinformation campaigns. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, false claims spread faster than any newsroom could respond. Viral posts circulated suggesting vaccines contained tracking microchips or could alter a person’s DNA, despite being repeatedly debunked by health authorities.

Similarly, other posts promoted drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as COVID-19 cures, even though health authorities warned they did not treat the virus. 

Governments have begun to acknowledge the scale of the problem. In Canada, federal policy discussions have identified deepfakes and AI-generated media as emerging threats to public trust and democratic institutions. 

​​Yet meaningful regulation has struggled to keep pace with the technology.

The stakes are no longer limited to a few misleading posts. When misinformation spreads, it distorts public debate and erodes trust in institutions and the media.

For newsrooms already facing shrinking budgets and fewer reporters, the result is a constant race against a wave of misinformation that is cheap to produce and expensive to debunk. Each correction requires time, expertise and verification, while the original false claim may have taken seconds to generate.

In this environment, the role of journalism becomes even more critical. Reporting grounded in verification, accountability and transparency is not simply another voice in the information stream; it is one of the few mechanisms society has for distinguishing fact from fabrication.

But journalism cannot defend the information ecosystem alone.

The Link calls on platforms to stop treating engagement as an excuse for harm. Platforms that profit from attention must also take responsibility for moderating content, enforcing their own policies and investing in stronger systems to detect and remove false information.

The Link calls on governments to legislate with urgency. AI is advancing faster than the policies governing it. Recognizing the risks is no longer enough. Democracies must develop rules that protect the integrity of public information before the line between fact and fabrication becomes impossible to see.

Every journalist, editor and media organization should pledge to hold the line. In an environment flooded with synthetic content, the standards of verification, accountability and transparency are more important than ever.

Lastly, The Link calls on readers to demand better from their feeds, from their sources and from themselves. Every moment of attention shapes what spreads.

The truth should be a practice, a standard and a demand we make of ourselves and of everyone with a platform. 
 

This article originally appeared in Volume 46, Issue 11, published March 17, 2026.