OTTAWA — Canada’s spy service said on Friday it was increasingly concerned about the rise of violent ideologically motivated online rhetoric, which it blamed in part on tensions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said since the start of the pandemic, threats posed by extremists had “evolved with unprecedented multiplicity and fluidity.”
COVID-19, it said, had worsened existing strains of xenophobia and anti-authoritarianism. Violent extremists were exploiting the pandemic by amplifying false information about government measures and the virus, it said.
Another manufactured crisis.
