Short-form insights and rapid-reaction analysis of breaking news and global events.
Last week, devastating wildfires ignited across Los Angeles County in what is one of the most destructive natural disasters in US history. But as firefighters continue to battle the flames, false and misleading information about the disaster has spr [...]
The US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) detailed charges against Iranian operatives involved in the plot to assassinate Donald Trump during the recent presidential campaign should dispel any skepticism about US national security threats emanating from [...]
This year’s US election cycle was marked by increasingly brazen attempts by foreign actors to interfere and influence voters. Iran orchestrated a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump and successfully accessed documents fr [...]
The Kremlin is known for testing disinformation strategies in its “backyard” before applying them globally. Last week in Moldova, the presidential election and constitutional referendum on EU membership presented Russia with such an opportunity. Rus [...]
In May, ASD, along with our partners at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA), published a report documenting roughly 400 domains that had published identical or nearly identical copies of articles original [...]
Americans vote in this year’s consequential presidential election in an environment marked by growing threats, including the weaponization of artificial intelligence, influence campaigns run by foreign authoritarian adversaries, and false election n [...]
Influencers and content creators play a critical role in today’s information environment as opinion makers and trusted voices. As a result, influencers and their online communities have become targets for malign actors seeking to undermine confidenc [...]
In the polarized political landscape of the United States, few words carry as much weight or evoke as much passion as “democracy”. As the cornerstone of American political identity, democracy is both revered and contested by citizens across the ideo [...]
The decentralized nature of election administration in the United States means that every state—and even election jurisdiction—has its own rules for voting and ballot counting. In 2020, variances in election procedures were misconstrued, and in some [...]
Few national contexts offer a more disturbing picture of Russian malign foreign interference than Moldova’s. As the country readies for critical elections on October 20, it also faces a barrage of Russian hybrid attacks of remarkable scale and inten [...]
The complexities of the information space are eroding trust in election processes, Co-Managing Director Rachael Dean Wilson writes at GMF. read more here The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone. [...]
The Ukrainian president’s visit to a Pennsylvania arms factory was partisan but not election interference. On September 27, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed an indictment against three Iranian intelligence agents accused of running a “hac [...]
This is the first in a series of reports covering online conversations related to the security and administration of the 2024 US elections. These reports are meant to highlight key narrative trends in the election space, including but not limited to [...]
On September 4, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) seized 32 website domains connected to Russia’s “Doppelganger” network and charged two Russian state media employees with funneling almost $10 million to a Tennessee-based online content creat [...]
In May 2024, ASD, along with our partners at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and the University of Amsterdam, published a report documenting roughly 400 domains—ranging from mirror sites and content aggregators to faux local news outlets and si [...]
Italy has long been a prime target for Russian interference efforts. From cultivating malign financial ties and relationships with political elites to executing covert information operations, Russia has consistently sought to increase its influence [...]
In recent months, taking advantage of pliable politicians and a vulnerable information space, Russia has escalated its hostile actions in Europe in both frequency and intensity. In fact, Russia’s destabilizing actions have become so brazen that simp [...]
2024 is a year of critical elections around the world. This holds especially true in Europe, where, in June alone, the European Parliament elections, British snap elections, and surprise French parliamentary elections all took place in quick success [...]
Introduction In the days after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a torrent of false and misleading information about the attack flooded social media. While the majority of these claims see [...]
Despite a lower profile in the national debate, the tools, tactics, motivations, and actors associated with foreign interference in US elections have evolved significantly since Russia’s “sweeping and systematic” 2016 operation. The Cybersecurity an [...]
Often criticized for their lack of mettle in combatting foreign interference, European institutions have shown signs of increased combativeness in recent weeks. A whole bevy of cash-for-influence, election interference, and espionage cases have been [...]
With democratic decline on display around the world, Georgia should be on our mind. Policy Recommendations The US and EU governments should insist that the Georgian government invite the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Co [...]
At the inaugural Belt and Road Forum in 2017, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) leader, Xi Jinping, made a pitch to the global south: the PRC could help develop partnering countries by building “big data, cloud computing, and smart cities” infr [...]
Almost half a century after its Carnation Revolution that led to the end of the country’s dictatorship, Portugal’s political landscape is once again marked by the remarkable rise of the far right. Last Sunday’s election saw the ruling left-leaning S [...]
The presidential campaign season in Russia has shown a stark turn from the themes that dominated—and were absent from—last September’s regional elections in Russia. With the war then at a stalemate, even the ruling United Russia party avoided any me [...]
Introduction On Wednesday, February 28, 2024, US President Joe Biden’s administration issued an executive order that directs the Departments of Justice (DOJ), Homeland Security, Health and Human Services (HHS), Defense, and Veteran Affairs to take a [...]
“Look up SMARTMATIC and tweet me what you think?” tweeted Rudy Guiliani, then-US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, in the weeks after the 2020 US presidential election. It was part of a broader campaign to delegitimize the election by castin [...]
While the news cycle is still abuzz with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin, flying under the radar are new details about Russian intelligence’s role in cultivating ties with political parties in Euro [...]
My travels to South Korea as part of a “Next Generation Leaders” delegation, sponsored by the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and the Korea Foundation, highlighted the robustness of the US-South Korean alliance and the challenges facing demo [...]
Introduction In January 2012, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s state-owned broadcaster CCTV opened an African branch headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Shortly thereafter, CCTV Africa—later rebranded as CGTN Africa—began publis [...]
The recent Taiwanese elections provide important insights into the tools and tactics the People’s Republic of China (PRC) might use when election results matter to its leadership. Similarly, Taiwanese authorities’ vigilance and responsiveness to Bei [...]
This year’s US presidential primaries will determine who will lead the country come January 2025 amid growing autocratic threats to American democracy. Experts from the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund are monitoring and a [...]
As we step into 2024, an unprecedented four billion people globally are gearing up to participate in what is set to be the largest election year in history. At the forefront of this democratic marathon is Taiwan, whose January elections not only ina [...]
Since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party has eroded media freedom and pluralism, taking over public media and hindering independent outlets. While PiS’s control of the information environment via television, radio, and pri [...]
The intensification of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks has forced liberal democracies to carefully craft a message that balances their support for Israel with growing domestic criticism over civilian casualti [...]
Since 2019, the Alliance for Securing Democracy at GMF has operated the Hamilton 2.0 dashboard, an online tool to track messaging originating from Chinese, Iranian, and Russian state media and government officials. In its time, the dashboard collect [...]
“Elections have consequences” the saying goes, often to justify a break with a previous administration. Along Europe’s Eastern flank, where illiberalism is on the rise and support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression is wavering, the resul [...]
In her last State of the European Union (SOTEU) speech for this Commission mandate, Ursula von der Leyen expectedly stayed mum on whether she intends to stand again. But it is difficult to take her address as anything but a carefully calibrated effo [...]
Meta’s recent report on the company’s takedown of a Chinese government information campaign that was the “largest cross-platform operation” ever, and of several smaller influence campaigns that originated in Turkey, Iran, and Russia, named hundreds [...]
Over the course of the war in Ukraine, a loose network of Russian military bloggers on Telegram have provided a fervently nationalistic, though at times highly critical, view of Russia’s “special military operation”. Providing more unfiltered covera [...]