Aaron Erlich, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said it's important to make people aware of misleading information online. But he said the wording in the CSIS campaign was "not the most straightforward" and appeared to be an attempt not just to educate but to invoke fear.

Erlich said clumsy messaging can backfire, and he would like to know if the messaging was tested at all to see how it would be received.