Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps made headlines in March with her decision to delete her Facebook account, calling the social media platform a “toxic echo chamber.”
That toxicity has been writ large with an attack ad on Facebook that all but called the mayor a money launderer.
The advertisement super-imposes the headline: “Lisa Helps … Launder money?” over an older photo of the mayor.
The accompanying post reads: Lisa Helps offshore millionaires clean their dirty money to buy up our neighbourhoods just like they did Vancouver. She says a money laundromat casino will be good for Victoria. No thanks Lisa!!!”
Helps wasn’t aware of the ad when contacted by the Times Colonist.
Michael Prince, University of Victoria Lansdowne professor of social policy, said the advertisement appeared to border on libel.
“It’s pretty low. I’m not a lawyer but that just sounds libelous. It’s really crossing a line,” he said.
Prince wondered whether in the era of Trump tweets many people aren’t tiring of such posts on social media.
“I think there’s a fatigue. … There’s just shocking filth out there. Really angry, filthy stuff. There’s a semblance of trying to link it to money laundering and casinos and real estate,” Prince said.
“So there’s some kind of connection to some reality there but constructing and spinning it that way is really gutter politics.”
Helps said Facebook is “almost beside the point, especially when it’s not policy based or substance based.”
“Social media doesn’t reflect social reality at all. The reason I got off Facebook is because it’s this negative echo chamber where people get content that they’re pre-disposed to like or predisposed to be sympathetic toward,” Helps said.
“In the last election there was some pretty nasty Facebook stuff that came up at the very last minute and our message to our team was: Everybody off their computers. Let’s go hit the doorsteps. Let’s go hit the streets.”
That being said, Helps’ campaign is organizing a “Facebook Live” event today.
“The team has arranged a Facebook Live so people can, I guess, call in or video in — talk to me on Facebook and, again, let’s have an actual conversation about the issues. That’s really what I’m interested in,” she said.
