The Great Canadian 'Tweet-in'
It was surely the most succinct case of mass civil disobedience in Canadian history: revolution, 140 characters at a time. Though the threat of a $25,000 fine kept many off their keyboards Monday, political vigilantes would not be deterred by a 1938 law barring the “premature transmission” of election results.
- Even before a single poll had closed, digital denizens were flirting with creative ways of flouting Section 329 of the Canada Elections Act – varyingly dubbed by critics as draconian, paternalistic and unenforceable.
- Though Elections Canada said it wouldn’t be monitoring social media for violations, the potential for a tweet or status update to cost $25,000 was top of mind for many – not least the creators of Tweettheresults.ca, who ironically chose NOT to tweet the results until after the transmission blackout.
- Elections Canada has a stern reminder for Twitter and Facebook users to keep election results to yourself until the polls close across the country. The goal is to prevent premature election results from being distributed before the last polls close in every electoral district. If you're caught breaking the law, you face a maximum fine of $25,000. The blackout will be lifted at 7 p.m. Pacific Time.
- Picking up the torch were social media users from around the world, who not long after the first polls closed were offering to tweet results emailed to them by Canadians.
By 7:45 pm eastern time – still two hours before the end of the publication blackout – the “real-time election” was in full swing online, with Ottawa-based analyst Mark Blevis reporting that more than 140 election results-related tweets had already been published.
- A number of websites, TV feeds and Ustream videos were reportedly shut down due to election-results chatter.
