Geoshawk, a disinfo dispatch: No.36
Tiktok lite leaves 1 billion users w/fewer protections, malign actors use crypto to spread MDM, Zuckerberg says open source AI is the way forward, & disinfo against DNC convention
Hey, I’m Alan, & welcome to Geoshawk. Geoshawk curates news & research on influence operations, with sections on tech, election integrity, miscellaneous news/research, & regional focuses on the USA, MENA, Russia, the Caucasus, & Central Asia.
I hope you enjoy Geoshawk!
*Note: I will in the near future add more regions, namely Asia and the rest of Africa.
Tech Watch:
Elon Musk Wants People on X to Police Election Posts. It’s Not Working Well. (NYT, 25 July)
X's AI chatbot 'Grok' spread misinformation about Minnesota's ballots. Does the tech giant care? (Star Tribune, 25 July)
Open Source AI Is the Path Forward (Meta, 23 July)
^ Mark Zuckerberg ^
TikTok Lite Leaves up to 1 Billion Users With Fewer Protections (Wired, 23 July)
A week of nonstop breaking political news stumps AI chatbots (Washington Post, 22 July)
Election Integrity:
Senate Intel chair warns confluence of factors make election threats worse (Cyberscoop, 25 July)
US election security official warns of ‘significant misinformation’ following Trump assassination attempt, Biden exit (Recorded Future, 25 July)
A Volatile Election Is Intensifying Conspiracy Theories Online (NYT, 24 July)
The anticipated disinformation target (Axios, 23 July)
^ DNC Convention ^
Miscellaneous News & Research:
5 charts that show the state of global democracy in 2024 (World Economic Forum, 26 July)
National Poll Finds Spanish Speakers Concerned About the Spread of Misinformation and Their Readiness to Prepare for and Participate in Elections (Free Press, 25 July)
[REPORT PREVIEW] Malign Interference and Crypto: How Crypto Transaction Tracing Can Expose and Disrupt Malign Influence Efforts (Chainanalysis, 24 July)
Our twin crises of despair and misinformation (Brookings Institute, 22 July)
From the Sphere to false cyberattack claims, misinformation runs rampant amid CrowdStrike outage (Techcrunch, 19 July)
Regions:
USA
Kamala Harris Deepfake Removed By TikTok After Going Viral (Newsweek, 24 July)
Trump allies crush misinformation research despite Supreme Court loss (Washington Post, 24 July)
California’s news industry is shrinking while misinformation spreads. Here’s what the numbers tell us (LA Times, 24 July)
How 2024 Battleground States Are Preparing for AI Election Threats (Cipher Brief, 23 July)
Fox defeats defamation lawsuit by former Biden anti-disinformation official (Reuters, 23 July)
As Harris moves to secure the Democratic nomination, misinformation follows soon after online (CNN, 22 July)
In raging summer, sunscreen misinformation scorches US (Medicalxpress, 21 July)
As the RNC ends, swing states’ efforts to fight misinformation ramp up ahead of the election (CNN, 20 July)
MENA
Iran Arrests Father of Slain Protester on 'Propaganda' Charges (Iran Wire, 25 July)
Fake video of threat to Olympic Games appears to be from Russia, researchers say (NBC News, 23 July)
RUSSIA
Russia’s new punching bag: Kamala Harris (Politico, 23 July)
Russia Using Disinformation To Undermine Moldova's Upcoming Elections, Officials Tell U.S. Panels (RFERL, 23 July)
Popular Ukrainian Telegram channels hacked to spread Russian propaganda (Recorded Future, 22 July)
Poland calls on EU to stress ties with US to counter Russian ‘disinformation (Euractiv, 20 July)
Propaganda Fails to Catch Up with Russia’s Generation Z (Wilson Center, 19 July)
CAUCASUS
Disinformation poses threat to both national and global security - Azerbaijani official (Trend, 21 July)
False information, disinformation, manipulation of facts, and false narratives are all things we have faced for many years - President Ilham Aliyev addresses 2nd Shusha Gobal Media Forum (Inform, 21 July)
Azerbaijan facing strong disinformation campaign regarding COP29: Official (Azer News, 21 July)
CENTRAL ASIA
All quiet on the CA front!