Bret Schafer

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About Bret Schafer

Bret Schafer is a senior fellow and head of the Alliance for Securing Democracy's information manipulation team. Bret is the creator and manager of Hamilton 2.0, an online open-source dashboard tracking the outputs of Russian, Chinese, and Iranian state media outlets, diplomats, and government officials. As an expert in computational propaganda, state-backed information operations, and tech regulation, he has spoken at conferences around the globe and advised numerous governments and international organizations. His research has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post, and he has been interviewed on NPR, MSNBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, and the BBC. Prior to joining GMF, he spent more than ten years in the television and film industry, including stints at Cartoon Network and as a freelance writer for Warner Brothers. He also worked in Budapest as a radio host and in Berlin as a semi-professional baseball player in Germany’s Bundesliga. He has a BS in communications with a major in radio/television/film from Northwestern University, and a master’s in public diplomacy from the University of Southern California, where he was the editor-in-chief of Public Diplomacy Magazine.

Our Experts’ 2023 Policy Wish List to Strengthen Democracy

At the start of the new year, we asked our experts to each put forth one recommendation that would strengthen democracy during a period of declining trust, emboldened autocrats, and war. Their answers touch on a variety of issues—from the war in Ukr [...]

What to Watch: ASD at GMF Experts Weigh in on US 2022 Midterms

Tomorrow’s midterm elections will be a benchmark for the state of American democracy. As early voting surges, people around the country (and the world) are watching to see what happens in what is perhaps the most important midterm election in recent [...]

Midterm Monitor Report: October 20–26, 2022

The Midterm Monitor is an interactive tool that provides a snapshot of social media messages and narratives shaping the conversation around voting and election administration in the leadup to the 2022 midterm elections. The Midterm Monitor tracks so [...]

2022-10-27T07:36:40-04:00October 26, 2022|By |

Midterm Monitor Report: October 13–19, 2022

The Midterm Monitor is an interactive tool that provides a snapshot of social media messages and narratives shaping the conversation around voting and election administration in the leadup to the 2022 midterm elections. The Midterm Monitor tracks so [...]

2022-10-25T09:59:34-04:00October 19, 2022|By |

Bret Schafer in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Extreme Partisanship Threatens Our Democracy, and the Problem is Us. We Also are the Solution

In response to a recent poll showing that roughly 40% of Americans believe a civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next 10 years—a figure that jumps to more than half among those who identify as “strong Republicans”—one Chinese diplomat tweet [...]

2022-09-15T17:16:48-04:00September 14, 2022|By |

Hamilton Toplines: July 4–10, 2022

Russia Monitored Russian accounts tweeted 16,236 times last week, generating 191,388 retweets and 584,066 likes. Kremlin-linked accounts took aim at UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson after he announced his resignation, making “Johnson” the second most [...]

2022-07-12T17:16:36-04:00July 12, 2022|By and |
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