Russia Last week, Russian state media and diplomats continued to focus on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, highlighting chaotic scenes on the ground, criticizing the Biden administration’s efforts, and amplifying confusion and tension between t [...]
Russia Last week, Russian state media and diplomats continued to focus heavily on the Tokyo Olympics, celebrating Russian successes and amplifying President Putin’s claim that the ban of Russia’s name, flag, and anthem for violating anti-doping rule [...]
On Monday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) confirmed to Politico that it is working to establish a Foreign Malign Influence Center. The center, which was first authorized as part of the 2020 Defense Authorization bill, wil [...]
Program Manager and Analyst Bradley Hanlon joined Julie Mason to discuss the more than 200 actions the government, private sector, and civil society took to secure the 2020 election against foreign interference and how we can improve going forward. [...]
Last Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held yet another hearing to grill social media CEOs about the mis- and disinformation on their platforms. While much of the hearing consisted of members soliciting soundbites from the executives [...]
Executive Summary The 2016 presidential election served as a wakeup call to the threat of authoritarian interference, and in the years since, many segments of American society—from the federal government to private companies and civil society gro [...]
On December 17, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a statement warning that a sophisticated and ongoing cyber breach posed a “grave risk” to government, critical infrastructure, and private sector organizations. Off [...]
Fact vs. Fake. Truth vs. Lies. Information vs. Disinformation. For voters trying to choose between competing parties and candidates the distinction between them would seem to be central. But is it still possible to tell which is which? In this week’ [...]
In mid-2020, the Alliance for Securing Democracy convened a task force of 30 leading American national security and foreign policy experts to devise a national strategy for the United States to offset autocratic advances in non-military domains of [...]
Iranian, Russian, and Chinese state media and government accounts focused on an array of major developments last week. Iranian accounts continued to cover the aftermath of the Beirut explosion—including continued accusations of U.S. and Israeli invo [...]
Last month, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released volume two of its investigation into Russian interference, which details an extensive campaign that aims to sow division and undermine American democracy via social media. One of [...]
In a world increasingly interconnected by technology, democratic governments are grappling with how to defend against and counter information operations targeting their societies. Russia has emerged as the most prolific foreign actor engaging in t [...]
Western countries should not respond to disinformation campaigns against them with their own disinformation campaigns, Director Laura Rosenberger and Research Assistant Brad Hanlon argue in an article for Progressive Centre UK. [...]
Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before congressional committees last week on the contents of his office’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, making the case that foreign interference is “among the most serious” thre [...]
The following is an introduction to the submission by ASD Intern Amber Frankland In April 2019, the United Kingdom’s Home Office published its Online Harms White Paper, which proposed a regulatory framework designed to address the prevalence of “il [...]
ASD's Jessica Brandt and Bradley Hanlon argue that social media platforms need to better coordinate with each other - and with government agencies - to comprehensively tackle online information operations. [...]
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report sheds new light on Russia’s sweeping campaign to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election. With only 18 months to go before Americans head back to the polls, here are 10 steps – developed and endorsed by a [...]
Special Counsel Mueller’s redacted report highlights the Russian government’s “sweeping and systematic interference” in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, through disinformation and hacking operations. Details of that effort were already known – t [...]
“PICK A DAMN COUNTRY, AMERICA!” The video is short, digestible, and catchy. A young Twitter personality dives into the latest news from Venezuela while trendy music plays in the background. According to the video, President Donald Trump and his “rig [...]
Executive Summary Two years after the Russian government manipulated social media to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, online information platforms continue to serve as mediums for such operations, including the 2018 midterm electi [...]
In between bites of stuffing and potatoes this Thanksgiving, it is likely that “fake news” or “election meddling” may be mentioned at the table. Here is all you need to know so that you can hold your own in a discussion on influence operations with [...]
On October 26, Facebook announced that it removed “82 Pages, Groups, and accounts for coordinated inauthentic behavior” originating from Iran. The information operation targeted citizens of the United States and United Kingdom, often by creating fic [...]
On October 19, the Department of Justice announced charges against Elena Khusyaynova, a St. Petersburg-based accountant, for working as part of a conspiracy to wage “information warfare against the United States of America.” According to the FBI, Kh [...]
On October 4, officials in the Netherlands and U.K. revealed a joint counterintelligence operation that led to the arrest and expulsion of four Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers in April for attempting to hack the Organization for the Pro [...]
In July, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) revealed that Ivan Savvidi, a Russian oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin, was actively funding politicians and protestors in Macedonia to spark unrest over the country’s Sept [...]
On June 18, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee releasedaround 1,100 names of Twitter accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), which is the official name of the Russian troll farm indictedby Special Counsel Robert Mueller for [...]
The Kremlin has launched a resurgent effort to solidify its control over Bulgaria’s energy sector. On May 30, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to establish Bulgaria as a second point of en [...]
On May 24, an international team of investigators from the Netherlands, Australia, Malaysia, and Ukraine announced that a Russian anti-aircraft missile was directly responsible for the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17). The following da [...]
On May 3, the Syrian Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, announced that the U.S. State Department had suspended funding for the group, stating that the support is “under active review.” The White Helmets are Syrian volunteer rescue workers th [...]
The European Commission published a communication on April 26 to the European Council and Parliament outlining the “European Approach” to combatting disinformation. The Commission’s report was the result of a several month process including consulta [...]
Russian influence operations exploit the vulnerabilities of social media platforms to disseminate false narratives and amplify divisive content in order to undermine democracies, divide societies, and weaken Western alliances. In conducting these o [...]