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.
Nad’a Kovalčíková Discusses Russian Disinformation during the Coronavirus Epidemic and Beyond in a Panel at Euractiv
Program Manager and Fellow Nad’a Kovalčíková joined a number of experts in a panel discussion on Russian disinformation during the coronavirus epidemic and beyond. Read an article summary of the event here. [...]
Laura Rosenberger Discusses Russian Interference on Deep State Radio
Russia has been trying to weaken the United States since the first days of the Cold War. But in that entire span of three-quarters of a century, even with the success of its spies and counter-espionage measures, it has never had a series of successe [...]
Hamilton Toplines: October 10-16, 2020
The New York Post’s publication of salacious and unverified personal materials from a laptop allegedly owned by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, was covered extensively by Russian state media, which focused both on the “explosive” contents of the story, as [...]
Bret Schafer in NY Daily News: The Hack-and-Leak Conundrum: There’s No Good Way to Combat the Latest Form of Dirty Trick
Partisanship has made it more difficult for social media platforms to react to hacked and leaked materials, Media and Digital Disinformation Fellow Bret Schafer argues in New York Daily News. Baked into Russia’s hybrid warfare strategy is the ide [...]
Jessica Brandt Discusses Foreign Interference in the Election on Smart Talk
U.S. intelligence agencies say that Russia, China and probably Iran are trying to interfere with the 2020 presidential election. A recent poll found 59 % of Americans believe foreign governments are trying to interfere. One of the strategies used to [...]
Reporting the Vote: Rachael Dean Wilson with CBS News’ Caitlin Conant and Jennifer De Pinto on Getting the Story Right
The media plays an essential role in every democracy; but in an election season marked with uncertainty on many different levels, the responsibility of the press corps to preserve the truth while getting the story right is even greater. Now armed wi [...]
Leaks, Lies, and Altered Tape: Russia’s Maturing Information Manipulation Playbook
Russia’s disinformation tactics, techniques, and procedures are evolving. Stakeholders of all types—journalists, regulators, and researchers—must see the full picture of Russian activity as it is changing to anticipate what might be to come. Intro [...]
October Surprise: Simulating a Foreign Interference Crisis on the Eve of the 2020 Election
Executive Summary The United States, like many other democracies, faces concerted and sophisticated operations aimed at disrupting, delegitimizing, and in some cases altering the outcomes of its elections. While foreign interference operations are [...]
Hamilton Toplines: October 3-9, 2020
Last week, Russian and Iranian diplomatic and state media accounts and outlets primarily focused on regional issues, while Chinese accounts and outlets concentrated on U.S.-China disputes as well as President Trump’s coronavirus recovery. Russian st [...]
Debating the Debates: How Russian, Chinese, and Iranian State-Backed Media Covered the U.S. First Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates
Overview On September 29, President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden sparred in the first of three (now two) presidential debates. The event, which was labelled a “debacle” and a “total disaster” by the U.S. news media, unsurprisingl [...]
Laura Rosenberger and Clint Watts on Combatting Disinformation in Elections at CISA’s National Cybersecurity Summit
Director Laura Rosenberger and Non-Resident Fellow Clint Watts joined a panel entitled "Combatting Disinformation and Misinformation in Elections" at CISA's National Cybersecurity Summit with Alex Stamos, Jorhena Thomas, and Olivia Gazis. [...]
Hamilton Toplines: September 26-October 2, 2020
President Trump’s positive coronavirus diagnosis was covered extensively by the Russian, Iranian, and Chinese networks monitored on Hamilton 2.0, with most of the content covering factual updates or well-wishes from diplomats and world leaders. Russ [...]