Geoshawk, a disinfo dispatch: No.39

Brand disinfo on the rise, FBI resumes flagging foreign disinfo to social media companies, & Germany's Interior Minister warns of Russian interference in state elections

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!

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Tech Watch:

• Recent news reports hint at AI’s newfound role in election misinformation (Tech Brew, 15 August)

• Meta shutters tool used to fight disinformation, despite outcry (NPR, 14 August)

• TikTok Is Pushing Old and False News as ”Breaking” Alerts (How To Geek, 12 August)

Election Integrity:

• Does legacy news help or hurt in the fight against election misinformation? (Niemen Lab, 14 August)

Miscellaneous News & Research:

• What business can do to fight misinformation (Fortune, 16 August)

• Researchers Validate the Dangers of Disinformation (Tech Policy Press, 15 August)

• Designing social media to foster user engagement in challenging misinformation: a cross-cultural comparison between the UK and Arab countries (Nature, 15 August)

• IFCN names winners of Meta grants to combat AI-generated misinformation on WhatsApp (Poynter, 15 August)

• New Study’s Findings Can Help Communicators Correct Online Misinformation (George Washington University, 13 August)

• Detecting health and science misinformation with AI (IBM, 13 August)

Regions:

• USA

  • F.B.I. Resumes Flagging Foreign Disinformation to Social Media Giants (NYT, 15 August)

  • In Volatile Election Season, US Companies Battle 'Brand Disinformation' (AFP/Barrons, 14 August)

  • How the U.S. Can Counter Disinformation From Russia and China (Center on Foreign Relations, 14 August)

  • New York AG Letitia James warns tech giants against allowing election-related misinformation (ABC News, 13 August)

  • Harris campaign's Google ads rewrite news headlines (Axios, 13 August)

• MENA

  • Trump, Biden, Harris targeted in Iran phishing campaign, Google finds (Axios, 14 August)

• RUSSIA

  • Russia Opens 10K Cases for 'Discrediting' Army Since Invasion – Medizona (AFP/The Moscow Times, 14 August)

  • Russia is pushing disinformation about Kursk operation, Ukrainian officials say (The Record by Recorded Future, 13 August)

  • Ministry of the Interior warns of Russian influence on state elections (ZEIT, 10 August)

    • ^ Germany ^

  • Russia slows YouTube’s playback speed, jeopardising right to information (Reporters Without Borders, 9 August)

• CAUCASUS

  • Baku Denies Reports of Iranian Plans to Target Israeli Bases in Azerbaijan (Caucasus Watch, 13 August)

  • Senator Shaheen, Congressman Turner Talk U.S.-Georgia Relations, Elections, GD Disinformation (Civil, 11 August)

• CENTRAL ASIA

  • Kyrgyzstan Establishes Center for “Information Security” (The Times of Central Asia, 13 August)