Featuring: Jennifer Bachus, Senior Bureau Official and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy, US Department of State Rasmus Hindrén, Head of International Relations, European Centre of Excellence for Counterin [...]
Russia Russian officials and state-funded media last week continued their efforts to shift blame for a global food shortage caused by Moscow’s decision to invade Ukraine. Russian propagandists argued that the crisis was sparked by Western sanctions [...]
Russia Kremlin-linked accounts continued to argue that Western sanctions weren’t impacting Russia’s economy but were driving inflation in the West and prompting a global food shortage. President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian economy was “resi [...]
On issues critical to Beijing, including human rights and the origins of Covid-19, Chinese sources dominate top search results on Western search engines and platforms, including Google, Bing, and YouTube. By securing first-page search results on pop [...]
Executive Summary As the war in Ukraine unfolds, Russian propaganda about the conflict has gotten a boost from a friendly source: government officials and state media out of Beijing. In multiple languages and regions around the world, China’s “wol [...]
Russia Russian officials and state media last week posted more than 800 tweets about Finland and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership, making “NATO” the most frequently used keyword by Kremlin-linked accounts. On May 16, President Vladimir Puti [...]
Russia Russian propagandists last week reacted to Finland and Sweden’s announced bids to join NATO by threatening military retaliation, accusing the two countries of violating international agreements, and highlighting division within NATO. Russia’s [...]
Russia Russian government-affiliated Twitter accounts marked Victory Day, which celebrates the Soviet Union’s defeat of Nazis in World War II, by launching a patriotic messaging push across social media. Russian diplomats and state media posted more [...]
Russia Russian diplomats and state media last week posted 764 tweets that referenced either “gas” or “rubles” as propagandists detailed Europe’s effort to cope with Moscow’s decision to cut gas supplies for Poland and Bulgaria. Russia made the move [...]
This briefing unpacks the Russia-China disinformation nexus, with a focus on the Global South, as well as the countries' increasing information warfare campaigns, within the context of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. [...]
Russia Russian diplomats and state media last week posted more than 800 tweets that referenced “Mariupol” or “Azovstal,” which is the name of a steel plant in the city that has become a holdout for Ukrainian soldiers. Kremlin-linked accounts celebra [...]
Russia Russian diplomats and state media last week mentioned “Mariupol” in nearly 500 tweets as they blamed Ukrainian Nazis and their Western backers for war crimes committed in the battered Ukrainian port city. Diplomatic accounts claimed that Ukra [...]
Bret Schafer of the Alliance for Securing Democracy joins the diplomatic mission of the European Union to the United States to talk about Russian disinformation campaigns, their role in shaping narratives about the war in Ukraine, and the challenges [...]
Russia The push by Russian propagandists last week to distort information on the atrocities in Bucha marked the Kremlin’s most aggressive disinformation campaign of the war. Russian diplomats and state media tweeted the term “Bucha” more than 1,000 [...]
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Chinese state media and government officials have been increasingly echoing Russian disinformation and undermining Beijing's efforts to promote a neutral position. As Russia faces renewed condemnation for the a [...]
A report from the Alliance for Securing Democracy and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue by Iris Boyer, Zoé Fourel, Sasha Morinière, Bret Schafer, and Etienne Soula. Introduction On March 2, 2022, Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik were [...]
After Russian state outlets were blocked in Europe and restricted around the world on major social media platforms, Chinese state media and government officials have emerged as major amplifiers of pro-Kremlin disinformation on the war in Ukraine. “W [...]
Chinese disinformation spiked after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China uses similar tactics as during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the scale and intensity are greater. Chinese disinformation conceals Russia’s responsibility for the war and promotes R [...]
Russia Russian diplomats and state media last week spread disinformation to discredit reporting on Russia’s alleged war crimes in Bucha, Ukraine. With images of destruction and death in Bucha coming to light as Russian troops leave the area, Kremlin [...]
This piece was written by Zsuzsanna Vegh and Bret Schafer with support from Logically AI. Hungary is holding parliamentary elections on April 3 that will decide whether the Fidesz-led Orbán government continues in office for a fourth consecutive te [...]
Russia Last week, “Biden” was the third most used phrase by Russian diplomats and state media on Twitter, as Kremlin-linked accounts attacked the U.S. president for saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “butcher” who “cannot remain in p [...]
Speakers Iris Boyer, Advisory, Institute for Strategic Dialogue France Julien Nocetti, Associate Fellow, French Institute of International Relations Bret Schafer, Senior Fellow and Head of the Information Manipulation Team, Alliance for Securing Dem [...]
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, some members of the far-right media in the United States have been echoing Kremlin talking points and conspiracy theories justifying the war. By parroting and feeding Kremlin narratives, the far-right has provi [...]
Russia Russian diplomats and state media last week promoted new evidence to support their conspiracy narrative about the presence of U.S.-funded bioweapon labs in Ukraine, though the number of tweets from Russian propagandists with the term “biologi [...]
For the last three weeks, people around the world have been watching the war in Ukraine unfold on their phones, intimately observing live footage of the conflict’s devastation alongside rampant fake news from Russia claiming the war isn’t real. Disi [...]
Russia Russian diplomats and state media last week tweeted the word “biological” nearly 600 times as they advanced their disinformation campaign about U.S.-funded bioweapon facilities in Ukraine. U.S. officials and independent reporters have stated [...]
We hear it all the time: Russia is engaged in a disinformation campaign to undercut support for Ukraine. But how does it actually work, has it had any influence, and how can it be stopped? Bret Schafer from The Alliance Securing Democracy gives us [...]
On February 4, 2022, Russia and China surprised many observers by releasing a joint statement promising a “no limits” friendship, which they described as “superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era.” Just after the Beijing Olym [...]
The Chinese government’s promotion of Russian disinformation in the middle of the war has ignited concern among Western officials because of China’s powerful diplomatic standing and extensive cyberabilities. Analysts who study disinformation from th [...]
The disinformation war in Ukraine has now moved well past the initial stage and continues apace. Yet, Ukraine seems to be beating Russia at its own game on the information battlefield as officials in Kyiv are treating it as a real front line. So far [...]
Russia Kremlin-linked messengers last week pushed a series of false claims about Ukraine’s pursuit of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. On Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had documents that show Kyiv ordered the “emergency destruc [...]
Russia Russian state media celebrated Putin’s recognition on Monday of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, sharing images of fireworks and people waving Russian flags in the regions. Russian President Vladimir Putin just [...]
Russian forces bombarded the central square in Ukraine’s second-largest city and other civilian sites Tuesday in what the country’s president condemned as a blatant campaign of terror by Moscow. In Kyiv, the TV tower in the capital was hit, accordin [...]
Last week, Russian state media in France aggressively pushed the Kremlin’s Ukraine-related narratives. However, their France-focused content—freedom convoys, public health measures, and vaccines—still garnered more engagement, with a few exceptions. [...]
Russia Russian disinformation on the Kremlin-instigated crisis in Ukraine reached a new level of intensity last week. Months of Russian warnings about a Ukrainian provocation developed into baseless accusations that Ukrainian forces had launched an [...]
As France gears up for a presidential election in April, several foreign officials and state-sponsored media are promoting narratives in France’s public debate that are conducive to their foreign interests, sometimes to the detriment of French democ [...]
Russia Russian officials last week continued to insist that Moscow has no plans to invade Ukraine and made more calls for diplomatic solutions. Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations claimed there is “not even a hint of common sense [...]
Russia Russian officials and state media last week pushed familiar narratives about Ukraine, claiming NATO is the aggressor and Russia is seeking a peaceful solution. On February 1, President Vladimir Putin spoke for the first time since December ab [...]
Russia Russian diplomats and state-directed media last week continued to claim that Russia does not want to go to war in Ukraine, where the Kremlin has perpetuated a conflict since 2014. “If it depends on Russia, there will be no war,” Foreign Minis [...]
For months, Russian propagandists have been preparing for a potential war by framing Ukraine and the West as aggressors. We compiled data from our weekly Hamilton 2.0 reports to shine a light on how Russian officials and state media have messaged ar [...]