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.
Hamilton Toplines: January 3–9, 2022
Russia Last week, Russian diplomats and state media launched a high-volume propaganda campaign around protests in Kazakhstan, which were started by anger over fuel prices and suppressed with the help of Russian troops. Kremlin-backed messengers refe [...]
Hamilton Toplines: December 20, 2021–January 2, 2022
Russia For the past two weeks, Russian diplomats and state media continued to focus most of their attention on the conflict in Ukraine. On December 30, U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged warnings over the Ukraini [...]
Hamilton Toplines: December 13–19, 2021
Russia Last week, Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published two draft treaties—one for NATO and the other for the United States—that listed a series of demands that would limit the alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe. The recommended agreemen [...]
Foreign Interference Conspiracies Can Do More Damage Than Foreign Interference
Earlier this month, the Congressional committee investigating the Capitol insurrection said former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over a PowerPoint titled, “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN.” [...]
Hamilton Toplines: Dec 6–12, 2021
Russia Russian diplomats and state media last week continued to focus much of their attention on developments around the conflict in Ukraine. On December 7, U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a virtual meeting to disc [...]
Laura Thornton Discusses NATO’s Role in Countering Disinformation with the McCain Institute
NATO and its members are facing a growing threat in the form of disinformation campaigns that can be traced back to authoritarian regimes and their proxies. Much of this “weaponized” information seems aimed at weakening confidence in member governme [...]
Hamilton Toplines: November 29–December 5, 2021
Russia Kremlin-backed accounts last week continued to focus heavily on the tension between Russia and the West caused by Russia’s military buildup along the Ukrainian border. RT warned that “the risk of an all-out armed conflict in south-eastern Ukr [...]
Responses to Foreign Information Operations
Panelists: Anneli Ahonen, Senior Fellow, ISD Global, and Former Head of East Stratcom Task Force, EEAS & EU vs Disinfo Renée DiResta, Research Manager, Stanford Internet Observatory Lee Foster, Senior Vice President, Althea Group and Former Dire [...]
What to Watch: ASD Experts Set the Stage for Biden’s Summit for Democracy
On December 9 and 10, U.S. President Joseph R. Biden will bring together leaders from 110 countries and governments for a virtual Summit for Democracy based around three key themes: defending against authoritarianism; addressing and fighting corrupt [...]
Etienne Soula on Tracking China’s Efforts to Undermine Democracy on China Uncovered
Olivia Enos interviews Etienne Soula on the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD)'s Authoritarian Interference Tracker. Etienne is a research analyst with the ASD and spearheaded the expansion of the tracker to cover over 150 incidents of Chinese i [...]
Hamilton Toplines: November 22–28, 2021
Russia Last week, Kremlin-affiliated messengers pushed combative messaging around the conflict in Ukraine. Russian officials and state media continued to blame the “'collective West’ under the leadership of the USA” for tensions along the Ukrainian [...]
Hamilton Toplines: November 15–21, 2021
Russia Last week, Russian diplomats and state-funded outlets continued their media push around the Belarusian-manufactured migrant crisis playing out on the Polish border, resulting in both “border” and “migrant” appearing among the top five most fr [...]