Introduction “Would you rather have the bitter truth or more sweet lies?” This is the question posed by an assertive series of videos produced by the State Department in recent months, targeting Russian audiences, that juxtapose statements by Russ [...]
Introduction In recent years, political podcasting has boomed in the United States, with new series emerging across the political spectrum. Due to the medium’s decentralized nature, it is difficult to grasp the total audience for these shows, but [...]
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many international observers are asking whether China will adopt a similar approach to Taiwan. Debates surrounding “Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow” are becoming more frequent, with some suggesting that B [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt led a conversation on democratic competition with autocracies at GMF's Brussels Forum. She was joined by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin; National Institute for Civil Discourse Executive Director Carolyn J. Lukensm [...]
Over the past year, the regimes in Russia, China, and Iran have used a combination of public diplomacy, propaganda, and overt and covert disinformation campaigns to portray their respective responses to the pandemic as superior to those of the West. [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt joined NDN to discuss the great power race between the United States/the West and authoritarian countries to vaccinate the world and be the ones to defeat the coronavirus. Related Reading: Influence-enza: [...]
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 [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt details the threats these authoritarian states pose and how the Biden administration should respond. The United States and other liberal democracies are engaged in a persistent, asymmetric competition with [...]
Nobody has suffered serious legal consequences for actively welcoming—some say aiding and abetting—Russian interference in the 2016 and 2020 elections, or for having asked the presidents of Ukraine and China to similarly interfere. One reason for th [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt joined the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and the Free Russia Foundation for Adapting and Evolving: Russian Foreign Interference, a conversation on Russia’s interference in U.S. domestic p [...]
This was originally published on GMF's blog. It was written by Rachel Tausendfreund based on contributions from Kristine Berzina, Jessica Brandt, Peter Chase, Sam DuPont, Lindsay Gorman, Jacob Kierkegaard, Karen Kornbluh, Nad’a Kovalčíková, Ian Less [...]
Executive Summary In recent years, U.S. government officials have normalized a damaging notion: that soliciting or participating in foreign interference in a U.S. election will not be prosecuted. Foreign governments from Beijing to Moscow and else [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt spoke to Vox's Alex Ward about China's information manipulation tactics. China has a new weapon in its global information warfare arsenal: “wolf warriors.” Named after a popular Chinese nationalistic film [...]
Ambassador Eric Edelman, Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence at John Hopkins’ Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, Co-Chair of ASD’s Offset Strategy for Democracies Task Force Ambassador Samantha Power, Anna Lindh Professor of the Practi [...]
On U.S. Election Day, our social media news feeds will likely be filled with stories about how foreign actors have worked to derail the U.S. election process. Some of those stories might be based in fact. Others will be unfounded rumors. Jessica Bra [...]
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 [...]
A little more than a year ago, China had almost no diplomatic presence on Twitter. A handful of accounts, many representing far-flung diplomatic outposts, operated without apparent coordination or direction from Beijing. Today, the work of Chinese d [...]
U.S. intelligence agencies say that Russia, China and probably Iran are trying to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. A recent poll found 59 % of Americans believe foreign governments are trying to interfere. One of the strategies used to [...]
Russia’s disinformation tactics, techniques, and procedures are evolving. Stakeholders of all types—journalists, regulators, and researchers—must see the full picture of Russian activity as it is changing to anticipate what might be to come. Intro [...]
ASD Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt and Brookings Non-Resident Fellow Torrey Taussig argue that throughout the coronavirus pandemic, China has carried out a striking disinformation campaign that borrows a few pages from the Kremlin’s play [...]
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 [...]
State and local leaders, in partnership with social media platforms, must prepare the information space for the onslaught of disinformation that epidemic-necessitated changes to the election process could generate. New York democrats may not be cast [...]
In this episode of the War on the Rocks podcast, Doyle Hodges, executive editor of the Texas National Security Review, sits down with Jessica Brandt, head of policy and research for the Alliance for Securing Democracy, and Camille Francois, chief in [...]
Over the past three weeks, American and Chinese officials have employed escalating rhetoric in efforts to blame one another for the global coronavirus pandemic. High-ranking U.S. administration officials frequently and pointedly referred to the viru [...]
Even as Beijing endeavors to promote itself as a responsible global player with an attractive governance model that renders it capable and willing to be a go-to provider of public goods during the coronavirus pandemic, China's leaders are increasing [...]
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 [...]
Disinformation is a regular part of our information ecosystem, but major political events, such as the coronavirus pandemic, are flashpoints for disinformation agents of all types, Head of Research and Policy Jessica Brandt said on War on the Rocks' [...]
Last week, for the ninth week in a row, the coronavirus was predominant in the Russian media ecosystem. The majority of this coverage featured basic news updates, but some articles pushed back on claims that Russia is spreading virus-related disinfo [...]
“China in particular is using the coronavirus crisis to its advantage in the information domain,” Jessica Brandt told The Sydney Morning Herald. She explained that Chinese diplomatic officials and news outlets are now promoting the conspiracy theory [...]
Head of Research and Policy Jessica Brandt told The Hill that the battle over the coronavirus narrative amounts to an “information contest.” She explained that China is using its media to promote their country’s response to coronavirus, aid to Europ [...]
Last week, for the eighth consecutive week, the coronavirus was the predominant topic in the Russian media ecosystem. Coronavirus' dominance in the coverage increased, likely reflecting rising attention globally. The vast majority of this coverage c [...]
For the seventh consecutive week, coronavirus predominated the Russian media ecosystem. By far the majority of the coverage has consisted of basic news updates on travel restrictions and the virus’s spread. This week Russian media paid greater atten [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt explained that "the perception of insecurity can be just as damaging as insecurity itself" on Bloomberg TV's "Balance of Power." Senior government officials have been saying for a long time that Russia seek [...]
From February 22-28, the coronavirus remained a prominent topic for the Russian media ecosystem, with a particularly dominating presence on Twitter. This period also saw an uptick in coverage about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faced the fir [...]
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt discussed Russian interference in the 2020 U.S. elections and the importance of responsible public messaging with Ian Masters on "Background Briefing." "The impression of insecurity can be just as damaging [...]
From February 15-21, the novel coronavirus continued to be prominent within the Russian media ecosystem, dominating Russian state-funded media Twitter accounts. However, the number of tweets mentioning Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, emanati [...]
Russia has amplified conspiracy theories suggesting that delays in reporting Iowa caucus results were part of an effort to deny Senator Bernie Sanders a win, as well as theories purporting murky ties between other candidates and the company that cre [...]
The Iowa caucus debacle not only delayed the results but also provoked misinformation about the integrity of the vote. While most of this misinformation is home-grown, these conspiracies are likely to amplified by Russian state-sponsored information [...]
Russia has a history of hacking information and leaking it to affect U.S. candidates, Head of Research and Policy Jessica Brandt told Public Radio International. But in 2020, she is worried about the possibility that Russia could manipulate hacked m [...]
Russia and China are trying to undermine Europe's democratic norms, weaken European institutions, and capitalize on rifts in the U.S.-Europe relationship, Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt argues with Torrey Taussig in The Washington Quarte [...]