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.
Information Manipulation
Thinning the ICE: Russian and Chinese Messaging on the Los Angeles Protests
Laura Rosenberger in Foreign Affairs: The Real Threat of Foreign Interference Comes After Election Day
With just days to go before the U.S. presidential election, Americans are once again scrolling through news feeds full of stories about foreign operations that seek to undermine their country’s electoral process. Some of the reports raise questions [...]
Ariane Tabatabai in the Washington Post: Iran’s goal is to undermine democracy. Americans shouldn’t take the bait.
On Wednesday night, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe called a news conference to warn Americans that foreign adversaries were actively interfering in the U.S. elections. Ratcliffe noted that two countries, Russia and Iran, have launc [...]
Rachael Dean Wilson on Foreign Interference in the Election with Spectrum News
Head of External Affairs Rachael Dean Wilson spoke to Spectrum News after the DNI announced Iran and Russia are attempting to interfere in the 2020 U.S. election. “It’s very easy to get sucked into this trap of which country is trying to support whi [...]
Bret Schafer Talks Platforms’ Response to Unverified Information on Newsy
Social media's attempt to stop false information around a New York Post story on Joe Biden and his son has left them open to censorship allegations. "Content moderation didn't work here, even if if you look at it as the only go goal is to stop the s [...]
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 [...]