Overview For the first time since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, coverage of racism, police brutality, and related protests did not feature among the top ten hashtags or key phrases (in aggregate) used by Russian, Chinese, and Iranian d [...]
Media and Digital Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer spoke to Julie Mason about the online threats to the U.S. election, including disinformation, "cheapfakes," and information leaks. [...]
Overview As with the past four months, the coronavirus was yet again the primary topic discussed by Russian, Chinese, and Iranian messengers, though the specific narratives differed depending on the country. China’s diplomats and state media, for ex [...]
Overview Russian and Chinese government officials and state media continued to use the ongoing protests and unrest following the killing of George Floyd to portray the United States as a country that is at once repressive and lawless. Beyond highlig [...]
Overview The steady drumbeat of coronavirus coverage that has dominated Russian and Chinese messaging over the past four months gave way over the weekend to coverage of the George Floyd protests in the United States. Although most of the coverage oc [...]
Russia Toplines The coronavirus remained the most dominant topic for the Russian media ecosystem last week, with no change in the amount of coverage from the previous week. In non-coronavirus coverage, two other topics of interest emerged: messaging [...]
Digital Media and Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer spoke to Newsy about how China is using social media to push thousands of messages intended to undermine the U.S.' handling of the coronavirus pandemic. "There has been an explosion of Chinese di [...]
Digital Media and Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer spoke to NBC News about Beijing's Twitter offensive during the coronavirus pandemic. China has launched a Twitter offensive in the coronavirus information war, more than doubling its number of of [...]
Head of Research and Policy Jessica Brandt and Digital Media and Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer were interviewed on the "Democracy Works" podcast about China's role in the coronavirus infodemic. As if the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t enough to [...]
Russia Toplines The coronavirus, while still the most prominent topic in the Russian media ecosystem last week, continued to decline in prominence for the third week in a row. At the same time, World War II Victory Day messaging predictably reached [...]
Russia Toplines The coronavirus remained an important topic in the Russian media ecosystem last week, though its margin of prominence again declined as compared to the previous week. Most pandemic content relayed basic news updates; although, critic [...]
Russia Toplines Coronavirus maintained its position as the most prominent topic for the Russian media ecosystem last week, though its dominance declined from the previous week. Much of this coverage focused on basic news updates, with some emphasis [...]
Russia Toplines The leading topic of the Russian media ecosystem last week was once again the coronavirus. The virus has now occupied this position for 14 straight weeks. Basic news updates on the pandemic accounted for much of this coverage. Some c [...]
Russia Toplines For the thirteenth consecutive week, coronavirus coverage dominated the Russian media ecosystem last week, though to a slightly lesser extent than in previous weeks. As usual, much of this output consisted of basic news updates on th [...]
Russia Toplines As has been the case for about three months now, coverage of the coronavirus dominated the Russian media ecosystem last week. Like usual, much of the coronavirus content relayed basic news updates on various aspects of the pandemic. [...]
Russia Toplines For the eleventh week in a row, coverage of the coronavirus dominated the Russian media ecosystem last week. As has become the norm, much of this content relayed basic news updates on various aspects of the pandemic. However, one imp [...]
Alliance for Securing Democracy experts Bret Schafer, Laura Rosenberger, Zack Cooper, and Axios’ Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian discussed narratives and long-term trends in China’s information manipulation efforts, including shifts in messaging and disinf [...]
The coronavirus outbreak has opened up a new chapter in the global information contest between autocrats and democrats. In recent weeks, China has employed increasingly assertive tactics in its efforts to shape perceptions of the crisis. Data collec [...]
For the tenth consecutive week, the coronavirus was by far the top story in the Russian media ecosystem. As usual, much of this coverage focused on basic news updates related to the pandemic. Amid this coverage, messaging about Russia’s medical aid [...]
From February 8-14, the Russian media ecosystem continued to prominently feature updates on the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, particularly on Twitter. Limited coverage of the U.S. presidential race on Twitter straightforwardly covered the r [...]
From February 1-7, the Russian media ecosystem was largely preoccupied with the novel coronavirus; however, there was also a clear push to fuel conspiracy theories related to the Iowa caucus and, to a more limited degree, the ongoing war in Syria. O [...]
Each week, ASD researchers will analyze Hamilton 2.0 data to understand the narratives and topics the Russian government and Russian state-funded media are promoting on Twitter, YouTube, broadcast television (RT), and state-sponsored news websites. [...]
Overview In a year featuring a presidential impeachment, Brexit, mass protests in Hong Kong, and widespread geopolitical turmoil, few topics dominated the Russian government-funded media landscape quite like the arrest and subsequent suicide of bil [...]
Media and Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer joined David Rabin on WPFW - Pacifica to discuss how Russia has interfered in African American activist movements and how Russia will continue to try to increase polarization throughout the U.S. ahead of [...]
The Russian government uses information operations to try to control the narrative on many issues around the world. Media and Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer says that overt information — news spread to the world from state-run outlets like Sputn [...]
Common transatlantic solutions can help counter disinformation campaigns in France and Germany’s changing media ecosystems, Media and Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer and Research Assistant Etienne Soula argue in an article co-written with Institu [...]
Deputy Director David Salvo and Media and Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer explain that foreign interference is a local issue, and local officials, community leaders, and citizens must come together to solve it. [...]
Overview On October 6, President Trump announced a U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria, leading to a week-long Turkish offensive against the Syrian Kurds. Since the announcement, Russian media and diplomats have doubled-down on their Syria coverage [...]
Bret Schafer talks online political disinformation on the Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver's 630 KHOW. [...]
Media and Digital Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer discusses online disinformation and the ongoing impeachment inquiry in the House on NPR's All Things Considered. [...]
Overview The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has engaged in a prolonged effort to create a version of Russian history free “from internal contradictions and ambiguities.” But attempts to airbrush Russian history have recently become a messa [...]
How to Interpret Hamilton 2.0 Hamilton 2.0 displays outputs from sources that we can directly attribute to the Russian, Chinese, or Iranian governments or their various news and information channels. These channels and accounts often engage with t [...]
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 [...]
On June 14, the European Commission released a report assessing the efficacy of the Action Plan against Disinformation and Elections Package in the context of the 2019 European Parliamentary elections. The report underscores Europe’s shifting postur [...]
On Thursday, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence will host a panel of experts to discuss the national security challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI), manipulated media, and “deepfake” technology. The committee will examin [...]
Today, representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Google, as well as several government officials, will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The hearing will serve as an opportunity for congressional leaders to gauge the gove [...]
ASD Social Media Analyst Bret Schafer published an essay in the National Urban League’s State of Black America 2019 report that looks at how the Russian government-backed Internet Research Agency (IRA) manipulated the issue of race and hijacked onli [...]
CNN interviews ASD's Social Media Analyst Brett Schafer on Maffick Media. Three online video channels designed to appeal to millennials have collected tens of millions of views on Facebook since September. But the pages pushing the videos do [...]
Summary The Russian government’s active measures campaign during the 2016 U.S. presidential election was a watershed moment in the study of modern information operations. Revelations that the Kremlin had purchased divisive political ads on social [...]
ASD's Social Media Analyst and Communications Officer Bret Schafer spoke with Denise Clifton of Mother Jones about lessons learned from a year of monitoring Russian influence operations on social media. Every day, the roughly 600 Kremlin-linked acc [...]