A former Canadian member of parliament who fell foul of foreign meddling has issued a warning to Australia to be aware of political disinformation campaigns being run in diaspora communities suppress critics of authoritarian regimes.
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Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu told a Senate inquiry into Foreign Interference through Social Media via video conference that he was the target of Chinese propaganda and disinformation on the social media app WeChat in the 2021 Canadian federal election.
Day two of the Senate inquiry heard from the victims of foreign interference, including human rights groups and democracy advocates.
The Chinese-born Canadian said he lost his seat after tabling a private member's bill to establish a Foreign Influence Registry Act in Canada's House of Commons.
Mr Chiu said WeChat was circulating scare campaigns, claiming his bill would subject Chinese-Canadians to "unimaginable" exclusion and persecution.
He said articles were using "very vulgar and extreme language" to falsely describe himself and Conservative leader Aaron O'Toole of being "Chinese haters".
"They had already started characterising [the private members' bill] as an anti-Chinese and anti-Asian piece of legislation that I was proposing," Mr Chiu told the Senate committee.
"I deliberately did not mention any country, and left that to the Privy Council office to define which country will be subject to the foreign influence registry."
The Chinese-owned social media app is regarded as a primary platform for Chinese diaspora to keep in touch with their family, but according to the latest Lowy Institute report Being Chinese in Australia, its use as a news source is slightly declining in Australia.
The report found 75 per cent of Chinese-Australians often or sometimes used WeChat for their Chinese-language news, down from 85 per cent in 2021.
The study also found 75 per cent of Chinese-Australians trusted Australian-based media outlets, saying English language news was reported accurately and fairly while trust in news shared on WeChat declined by three points to 46 per cent.
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Mr Chui, while warning of WeChat's monopoly in Chinese communities, advised against a blanket ban on the app and instead called for an in-language fact-checking system to counteract Beijing-run propaganda campaigns and to promote a diversity of ideas.
"And then this will be effective in providing a way for the diaspora community to at least realise that they are being used," he said.
"They are being manipulated, their interests are actually being hurt by these predatorial regimes that are infiltrating us."
Mr Chiu said a blanket ban could also backfire by sending out a wrong message about liberal democracies.
"These are exactly what these regimes would like us to do. They would like us to start hating Chinese, they would appreciate us banning completely WeChat," Mr Chiu said.
"They would enjoy watching us putting Chinese citizens in jail for unsubstantiated charges and undermining our diverse multicultural, ceremonious society that we have spent so much effort in building."
The Senate committee is to present its final report by August 1.
