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
The China-Russia Nexus of Disinformation
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 10:00 - 11:00am ET 1600 - 1700 CET In the two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Russia’s and the People’s Republic of China’s use of disinformation has increased along with Moscow and Beijin [...]
Russia Is Still Finding Willing Partners Throughout Europe
While the news cycle is still abuzz with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s interview of Russian President Vladimir Putin, flying under the radar are new details about Russian intelligence’s role in cultivating ties with political parties in Euro [...]
ASD Publishes AI Election Security Handbook
WASHINGTON D.C. – The Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States released “The ASD AI Election Security Handbook” as a resource for elections officials responding to unprecedented threats to election security su [...]
The World According to CGTN Africa
Introduction In January 2012, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s state-owned broadcaster CCTV opened an African branch headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Shortly thereafter, CCTV Africa—later rebranded as CGTN Africa—began publis [...]
Voting in Beijing’s Shadow: The People’s Republic of China Interferes in the 2024 Taiwanese Elections
The recent Taiwanese elections provide important insights into the tools and tactics the People’s Republic of China (PRC) might use when election results matter to its leadership. Similarly, Taiwanese authorities’ vigilance and responsiveness to Bei [...]
Taiwan’s Election: 2024’s Canary in the Coal Mine for Disinformation against Democracy
As we step into 2024, an unprecedented four billion people globally are gearing up to participate in what is set to be the largest election year in history. At the forefront of this democratic marathon is Taiwan, whose January elections not only ina [...]
Push and Poll: How Search Engines Reflected and Relegated Polish State-Backed Media in the 2023 Election
Since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party has eroded media freedom and pluralism, taking over public media and hindering independent outlets. While PiS’s control of the information environment via television, radio, and pri [...]
David Levine and Louis Savoia in the Fulcrum: Slovakia’s election deepfakes show how AI could be a danger to US elections
In the days leading up to Slovakia’s highly contested parliamentary election, deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence spread across social media. In one posted by the far-right Republika party, Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Šimečka appa [...]
Peter Benzoni at Politifact’s United Facts of America: How Russian falsehoods spread to U.S. through faux local news
Investigative Data and Research Analyst Peter Benzoni presented ASD's findings about Russian propaganda bypassing content bans and posing as local news sources at Politifact's 2023 United Facts of America. watch here The views expressed in GMF p [...]
An autocratic opening: Russian, Chinese, and Iranian messengers capitalize on the Israel-Hamas War
The intensification of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks has forced liberal democracies to carefully craft a message that balances their support for Israel with growing domestic criticism over civilian casualti [...]
Nathan Kohlenberg in Haaretz: How Twitter’s Community Notes Accelerates Denialism About Hamas Atrocities Against Israelis
The Community Notes feature was supposed to shut down conspiracy theories on X, formerly Twitter. Instead Elon Musk's preference for crowdsourced moderation is allowing malicious users to weaponize hatred, lies and disinformation about the October 7 [...]
Key Findings from the New Hamilton 2.0 Dashboard
Since 2019, the Alliance for Securing Democracy at GMF has operated the Hamilton 2.0 dashboard, an online tool to track messaging originating from Chinese, Iranian, and Russian state media and government officials. In its time, the dashboard collect [...]