Foreign Policy Essay
Why Does Russia Use Disinformation?
Kasey Stricklin Sun, Mar 29, 2020, 10:00 AM
Russia is not just trying to sow chaos. It is pursuing a strategy with clear objectives.
Latest in Disinformation
Disinformation
The Next Gray Zone Conflict: State-Based Disinformation Attacks on the Private Sector
Matthew F. Ferraro, Preston B. Golson Tue, Mar 24, 2020, 10:30 AM
As trade-wars proliferate, technological rivalries intensify and U.S. corporations take public positions on hot-button social issues, American businesses will increasingly find themselves in the crosshairs of nation-state sponsored disinformation operations.
Disinformation
Is There a Targeted Troll Campaign Against Lisa Page? A Bot Sentinel Investigation
Christopher Bouzy Wed, Jan 22, 2020, 7:14 PM
I am the founder and CEO of Bot Sentinel, a platform that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to classify inauthentic and problematic Twitter accounts. Even I was shocked by what we discovered.
Disinformation
Livestream: House Hears Testimony About Digital Manipulation
Hadley Baker Wed, Jan 8, 2020, 11:28 AM
On Jan. 8 at 10:30am, the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a hearing on “Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age.” The committee will hear from Monika Bickert from Facebook, Joan Donovan of the Harvard Kennedy School, Tristan Harris from the Center for Humane Technology and Justin Hurwitz from the University of Nebraska College of Law. The livestream of the hearing is available here and below.
Disinformation
Facebook Takes a Step Forward on Deepfakes—And Stumbles
Danielle Citron, Robert Chesney, Quinta Jurecic Wed, Jan 8, 2020, 7:58 AM
The good news is that Facebook is finally taking action against deepfakes. The bad news is that the platform’s new policy does not go far enough.
Disinformation
How the Schiff Report Deals With Disinformation
Quinta Jurecic, Jacob Schulz Sun, Dec 8, 2019, 11:00 AM
The House Intelligence Committee report on impeachment engages minimally with the conspiracy theories propagated by the president’s defenders.
Politics & National Security
Nonconsensual Pornography, Political Scandals and a Warning for 2020
Quinta Jurecic Thu, Oct 24, 2019, 1:28 PM
Amid the hubbub of L’Affaire Ukrainienne, you could be forgiven for overlooking another story that has emerged out of Congress over the past week. It’s a grubby, unpleasant story—so much so that it feels ugly to draw attention to it. But the times are ugly, after all, and the story is a concerning harbinger of what might be to come in the lead-up to 2020.
Disinformation
Is the Threat of ‘Fake Science’ Real?
Alden Fletcher Mon, Aug 5, 2019, 8:15 AM
In the early 1980s, Soviet intelligence began Operation Infektion—a campaign to erode trust in the U.S. government by orchestrating a series of scientific papers and news articles arguing that the U.S. government created the HIV/AIDS virus.
Cyber & Technology
About That Pelosi Video: What to Do About ‘Cheapfakes’ in 2020
Robert Chesney, Danielle Citron, Quinta Jurecic Wed, May 29, 2019, 3:34 PM
In the summer of 2016, a meme began to circulate on the fringes of the right-wing internet: the notion that presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was seriously ill. Clinton suffered from Parkinson’s disease, a brain tumor and seizures, among other things, argued Infowars contributor Paul Joseph Watson in a YouTube video. The meme (and allegations) were entirely unfounded.
Facebook’s Role in the Genocide in Myanmar: New Reporting Complicates the Narrative
Evelyn Douek Mon, Oct 22, 2018, 9:01 AM
Members of the Myanmar military have systematically used Facebook as a tool in the government’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority, according to an incredible piece of reporting by the New York Times on Oct. 15. The Times writes that the military harnessed Facebook over a period of years to disseminate hate propaganda, false news and inflammatory posts.