Montreal mayor criticized for restricting comments on social media accounts
Global News
Currently, the X accounts of Valérie Plante and Projet Montréal only allow comments from people or organizations mentioned in the accounts' posts.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is facing pushback for a decision to restrict access to her social media accounts, which her office says was an attempt to curb online hate.
Aref Salem, leader of the city’s official Opposition, says Plante and her party, Projet Montréal, are limiting Montrealers’ freedom of expression by blocking comments on social media platforms X and Instagram.
“This is not the way of democracy,” he said in an interview Tuesday. “This is really unethical, even, to not let the population of Montreal interact with the mayor.”
Salem says social media is one of the only ways for citizens to interact with Plante. Residents can voice their concerns in person during a question period at city council meetings, but they have only 90 seconds to ask their question. “Having a social media feed is to connect with the population and ask the population about their opinion,” he said. “It has to be an interaction.”
Currently, the X accounts of Plante and Projet Montréal only allow comments from people or organizations mentioned in the accounts’ posts. Comments on Plante’s Instagram posts are also limited, and it’s not possible to tag her in an Instagram story.
A spokesperson for Plante said the decision was made during the summer to “limit discriminatory, violent, racist, harassing, hateful, homophobic, disrespectful, sexist and defamatory comments” on social media.
“Although all of the mayor of Montreal’s digital platforms are places for discussion, it is essential that the tone of the exchanges remains respectful,” said Catherine Cadotte in a statement.
But Salem said elected officials have an obligation to engage with their constituents. He said Plante could deal with online harassment by blocking individual accounts or reporting them to the police. “When we decide to be public figures, that goes with the position,” he said. “When we want to be representative of the population, we have to be representative of the whole population.”
