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.
Securing Democracy Dispatch
Our Take Beijing appears to be capitalizing on weaknesses in the U.S. response to the coronavirus, using it to emphasize fissures in the transatlantic relationship, Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt said to The Hill. Brandt told The Sydney [...]
Hamilton Weekly Report: March 14-20, 2020
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 [...]
Laura Rosenberger’s Take on China’s Coronavirus Disinformation Featured in CyberScoop
On a CyberPeace Institute panel, Director Laura Rosenberger explained that China's propaganda apparatus is evolving and taking lessons from Russia. While China used to be much more focused on internal narrative creation and control, now it is sowing [...]
Laura Rosenberger Discusses the Coronavirus ‘Infodemic’ with the CyberPeace Institute
Director Laura Rosenberger joined a group of experts to discuss disinformation in the time of the coronavirus on a webinar organized by the CyberPeace Institute. [...]
Analyzing China’s Coronavirus Propaganda Messaging in Europe
As COVID-19 has spread around the world, the Chinese party-state’s international propaganda apparatus has swung into action. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda outlets are using declining numbers of COVID-19 sufferers inside China to por [...]
Jessica Brandt on Beijing’s coronavirus disinformation push in The Sydney Morning Herald
“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 [...]
Lindsay Gorman Discusses Tech Companies’ Efforts to Combat Coronavirus Disinformation on NPR
Technology companies' response to coronavirus "shows what aggressively confronting a disinformation challenge actually looks like and what our big tech platforms can do when there is a strong will to act,” Emerging Technologies Fellow Lindsay Gorman [...]
Jessica Brandt on the U.S.-China coronavirus ‘information contest’ in The Hill
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 [...]
Hamilton Weekly Report: March 7-13, 2020
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 [...]
Laura Rosenberger Discusses Coronavirus Disinformation on Deep State Radio
On this episode of Deep State Radio, Director Laura Rosenberger explained that malign foreign actors do not only spread disinformation around elections; information manipulators take advantage of many topics, including coronavirus, to build audience [...]
Chinese and Russian State-Owned Media on the Coronavirus: United Against the West?
Beginning in late January, when news emerged of a “novel coronavirus” spreading through China, Beijing’s propaganda apparatus shifted into overdrive. The epidemic has also been heavily covered in externally-directed Russian state-backed media outlet [...]
Hamilton Weekly Report: February 15-21, 2020
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 [...]