The coronavirus pandemic is creating an opportunity for foreign actors who seek to undermine Western democracies to advance their goals. From weekly reports that track messaging from Russian and Chinese state-backed media and diplomatic actors, to pieces that analyze the geopolitical impact of crisis, ASD’s work on coronavirus can be found here.
Laura Thornton in The Hill: Foreign COVID Misinformation Helps Fuel Public Health Skepticism
The United States has entered a new and aggravating phase of COVID-19, with plentiful vaccines — which poorer nations could only dream of — but a stubborn constituency unwilling to embrace the cure. While much of the disinformation originates domest [...]
RT Deutsch Finds a Home with Anti-Vaccination Skeptics in Germany
YouTube’s decision last week to remove RT’s German-language channels for violating the platform’s coronavirus misinformation policy sparked an outcry from Moscow, with the foreign ministry claiming that the move was “fully in line with the logic of [...]
Washington Post Exclusive: China Is Exploiting Search Engines to Push Propaganda about Origins of Covid-19, ASD Study Finds
Searching about Fort Detrick? You’ll likely find Chinese propaganda, an ASD study finds. Chinese government officials and state media are exploiting gaps in search results on powerful engines like Google, YouTube and Bing to advance conspiracy theo [...]
Deep in the Data Void: China’s COVID-19 Disinformation Dominates Search Engine Results
Since the earliest days of the pandemic, Chinese state officials and media outlets have disseminated conspiracy narratives claiming that COVID-19 originated at Fort Detrick—a U.S. army research facility in Maryland that has been the target of disinf [...]
The Elections, Covid, and Afghanistan: August on the German Elections Dashboard
On September 26, around 60 million voters in Germany will be able to cast their ballots in the 2021 parliamentary elections. After 16 years in power, incumbent chancellor Angela Merkel is not running for office, and a change in government leadership [...]
Hamilton Toplines: September 6–12, 2021
Russia Continuing a weeks-long trend, Afghanistan dominated the outputs of Russian state media last week, with the country registering as the second or third most-mentioned country in videos, tweets, and articles posted by state media accounts and o [...]
Hamilton Toplines: August 30–September 5, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian state media and diplomats continued to focus on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover of the country; although, the amount of coverage declined slightly from previous weeks. Kremlin-linked Twitter [...]
Laura Thornton in Civil Georgia: Perilous Choice: Georgia’s COVID Elections
Georgia’s local elections scheduled for October represent more than choosing important mayoral and sakrebulo (local council) positions. The political stakes are higher, than what the local elections usually entail. Based on the EU-negotiated agreeme [...]
Hamilton Toplines: August 16–August 22, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian state media and diplomats continued to focus on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, highlighting chaotic scenes on the ground, criticizing the Biden administration’s efforts, and amplifying confusion and tension between t [...]
Mandatory Vaccinations, Covid-19 Origin, and A National Holiday: July’s Top Findings from the 2021 German Elections Dashboard
July saw a continuation of foreign actors’ active engagement in German online political discourse through state-backed media and diplomatic accounts. As in previous months, Russian actors put a particular emphasis on disseminating anti-vaccination n [...]
Hamilton Toplines: August 9–August 15, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian state media and diplomats focused heavily on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s campaign to seize control of the country. Alongside coverage of the unfolding chaos and humanitarian crisis, Russian accoun [...]
Hamilton Toplines: August 2 – August 8, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian state media and diplomats continued to focus heavily on the Tokyo Olympics, celebrating Russian successes and amplifying President Putin’s claim that the ban of Russia’s name, flag, and anthem for violating anti-doping rule [...]