Authoritarian regimes and their proxies use social media, other online information platforms, and traditional media to attempt to shape global and domestic narratives; to sow chaos and confusion in democracies; and to undermine democratic processes. Find ASD’s work on the many ways malign actors manipulate information to interfere in democracies, including by spreading disinformation, on this page.
Interference Matters
Venezuela Through the Sino-Russian Media Playbook
Venezuela Through the Sino-Russian Media Playbook
Russia and China’s information operations in Venezuela have been extensively discussed and documented. Their media strategy has involved forming partnerships with ideologically aligned national and regional outlets such as TeleSUR, promoting revisio [...]
Digital Threats and Propaganda: How North Carolina and Other States are Targeted by Foreign Actors
Join the World Affairs Council of Charlotte for an exclusive lunch event on Thursday, May 29, featuring experts from the Alliance for Securing Democracy, as they unpack how countries like Russia, China, and Iran are actively shaping public discourse [...]
The Invisible Battlefield
The EU must make information warfare a core defense priority. With high-level summits, new initiatives, and massive spending commitments dominating headlines, the EU appears poised for a collective Zeitenwende in defense. Its exact contours remain u [...]
Vassilis Ntousas Moderates GMF Discussion on EU Responses to Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference
Foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) is a growing threat to democracies worldwide, with social media platforms as prime battlegrounds. In Europe, domestic and foreign malign actors engage in information operations aimed at underm [...]
Searching for Geopolitical Direction: The Sources Russian and Romanian Speakers Encountered on Search Engines Prior to Moldova’s 2024 Votes
Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Moldova has oscillated between East and West, or between closer ties with Russia or the EU. Last fall, the country faced this existential question once again. Moldovans went to the polls to selec [...]
Media Vassalage: How Venezuela’s TeleSUR Acts as Russia and China’s Information-Laundering Front
After a contested July presidential election in which Nicolás Maduro claimed victory with 51% of the vote—amid allegations of irregularities, limited oversight, and too few international observers—Venezuela was thrown into turmoil. The Carter Center [...]
No Bahn on RT: How RT Deutsch Stays on Track Despite Content Bans
This is part two of a two-part series on how RT Deutsch content is evading domain bans and sanctions published in partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Find part one here. Germans head to the polls on Sunday not only to decide who [...]
The State(s) of Foreign Information Operations: A State-by-State Look at Foreign Information Manipulation in the United States
Introduction It is easy to dismiss foreign information operations as playing out at the national level, designed to influence federal policymakers and Beltway insiders. But these threats transcend the “Beltway Bubble”. Increasingly, foreign nation [...]
What is TV BRICS? The Sanctions-Linked, Russia-Backed Influence Broker
TV BRICS, a Russian-registered media outlet dedicated to covering the founding BRICS+ countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), as well as BRICS+ candidate states, has largely flown under the radar of Russian media analysts. TV BRI [...]
US Democracy: Confronting a New Information Age
Just before their 2024 presidential election, 58% of American voters said that the US political system needs a major overhaul. Another survey revealed that only 4% described the system as working “very well” or “extremely well”, and fewer than a qua [...]
Inflaming Divides: Russian Narratives on the California Wildfires
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 [...]
Bret Schafer Joins NBC News to Discuss Meta’s Fact-Checking Policy Changes
Senior Fellow Bret Schafer joined NBC News to react to Meta's decision to change its fact-checking policy in the United States. watch here The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone. [...]