Study rejects link between federal Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre's bot-praised rally.

A study by Canada's Digital Media Research Network found no evidence linking the federal Conservatives to a bot network on social media that praised Pierre Poilievre's July rally in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The study concluded that the bot activity was likely an amateur experiment with a bot pipeline sourcing content from news stories, rather than a scheme by a political party. The impact of the bot posts was considered insignificant, and the narrative about them was hijacked, leading to millions of views on social media and amplification by media.