The Department of Health, led by Minister Patty Hajdu, paid for people to complement the department’s work on Facebook and Twitter.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the department said yesterday that it would pay influencers to promote the health department “as a trusted source of health information.”
“Targeted audiences will be determined by each influencer,” said a written notice by the department of health, noting that influencers would be paid to help promote the department’s “credibility,” while not “tarnish[ing] Health Canada’s or the Government of Canada’s reputation.”
No budget for the project was detailed.
“Digital influencers are defined as people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic,” the notice Influencer Marketing Programs reads, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“They make regular posts about that topic on their preferred social media channels and generate large followings of enthusiastic, engaged people who pay close attention to their views.”
Influencers are not required to tell their audience that they are being paid by the government to promote the Trudeau department of health.
Hajdu and her department have been on the receiving end of criticism for months, for a plethora of minor scandals.
