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.
Defending Democracies Against Autocratic Advances
Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt led a conversation on democratic competition with autocracies at GMF's Brussels Forum. She was joined by U.S. Senator Ben Cardin; National Institute for Civil Discourse Executive Director Carolyn J. Lukensm [...]
Investing in Resilience
Program Manager and Fellow Nad’a Kovalčíková led a discussion on how and why NATO member states can build up their democratic, societal, and economic resilience at NATO 2030 at Brussels Forum with U.S. Representative Gerald Connolly; Tania Latici, a [...]
What to Watch: ASD Experts Weigh in as Biden and Putin Prepare to Meet
President Biden’s trip to demonstrate “America’s renewed commitment to our allies and partners” and showcase “the capacity of democracies to both meet the challenges and deter the threats” culminates with a one-on-one meeting between Biden and Russi [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 31-June 6, 2021
Last week, Russian state media provided substantial coverage of controversies surrounding the release of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s emails and renewed U.S. interest in investigating the origins of the coronavirus. State media amplified domestic criticisms [...]
Belarus Is Part of Europe’s Russia Problem
For years, Alexander Lukashenko has been a problem frequently discussed but easily forgotten. When Belarus forced Ryanair flight FR4978 to land in Minsk and arrested Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega, it took away the freedom and security not only [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 24-30, 2021
After Belarusian authorities forced a Ryanair plane to land in Minsk on May 23 and arrested opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, who was a passenger on the flight, Russian state media and diplomats strongly criticized Western responses to the in [...]
Etienne Soula Discusses Russia’s Covid Vaccine Disinformation Operations in L’Express
A suspicious agency offered European influencers money to spread negative publicity about the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. Research Assistant Etienne Soula spoke to L'Express about the similarities between this information manipulation attempt and Ru [...]
2021 German Elections Dashboard Analysis: Russian State-Backed Media Narratives on Covid-19, Vaccines, Ukraine, and Nord Stream 2
March and April Monitoring: Russian State-Backed Media ASD and GMF analyzed data from the German Elections Dashboard to understand the narratives that state-backed actors are pushing ahead of the German federal elections in September. In March and [...]
Hamilton Toplines: May 17-23, 2021
Last week, Russian state media continued to highlight incidents of police brutality during the protests in Colombia and related human rights concerns, though the volume of such content continued to taper off from its peak the first week of May. (On [...]
Kristine Berzina Speaks to RND About Russia’s Disinformation Operations in Germany
Senior Fellow Kristine Berzina spoke to German outlet RND about our new German Election Dashboard and Russia's information manipulation operations in Germany around the election and the coronavirus. Please click the link below to read the full artic [...]
Hamilton Analysis: Chinese Propaganda Uses Latest Israeli-Palestinian Violence to Criticize United States
Overview Over the past ten days, renewed violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories has become a major story in the global news cycle. Russia, China, and Iran have each devoted significant coverage to the situation, but Chinese diplomats and [...]
Laura Thornton Discusses Democratic Backsliding with Caucasian Journal
Alexander KAFFKA, editor-in-chief of Caucasian Journal: Dear Laura, it is always a pleasure to meet you – virtually for the time being, but maybe also in person before long: I know that you are planning to be back to Georgia soon. You have worked i [...]