More than eight in ten people in Canada use online private messaging apps, like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp; and over half are receiving messages about the news or current events at least weekly. Without greater transparency from the private platforms themselves and investment in digital literacy efforts, this growing vector for online news will continue to spread disinformation and other online harms. The Cybersecure Policy Exchange at Ryerson University analyzed the role of private messaging in Canada, including user exposure to disinformation, hate speech and spam, and recommended potential policy and technical approaches to mitigate harms. Their new report, Private Messages, Public Harms, used results from a representative survey conducted in March 2021 of 2,500 people in Canada and found that: