Geoshawk, a disinfo dispatch: No.43

Australia threatens fines for social media companie enabling misinfo, Russian anti-youtube effort fails to produce results, Russia claims US plot to undermine Georgian elections, & 20 more headlines!

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:

• British government had ‘constructive’ talks with Musk’s X over disinformation, minister says (CNBC, 13 September)

• Belarus launches curated YouTube analogue for propaganda content (Novaya Gazeta, 13 September)

• How TikTokers think about misinformation (Washington Post, 11 September)

• Social media’s role in fueling extremism and misinformation in a divided political climate (PBS, 11 September)

• How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists (NYT, 10 September)

• Europe's fight with big tech over tax, data and disinformation (TechXplore, 10 September)

• Australia threatens fines for social media giants enabling misinformation (Reuters, 9 September)

• YouTube removes Tenet Media channel over alleged ties to Russian disinformation effort (The Record by Recorded Future, 6 September)

Election Integrity:

• Conservatives Vs. Liberals—Who’s More Prone To Believing Misinformation? (Forbes, 11 September)

• Republicans are more likely to trust Trump than official election results: AP-NORC/USAFacts poll (AP News, 10 September)

• Elon Musk pushes unsubstantiated Arizona voter fraud claims (Axios, 10 September)

Miscellaneous News & Research:

• How ‘Net Hypnosis’ Distorts Our View of Democracy’s Digital Defense (Tech Policy Press, 13 September)

• Why Scholars Should Stop Studying ‘Misinformation’ (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 September)

• Research Finds Gen Z, Millennials More Vulnerable to Fake News (UVA Today, 6 September)

Regions:

• USA

  • Cybersecurity, disinformation dominates hearing on elections (Cyberscoop, 12 September)

  • Republican 'noncitizen' push could penalize US voters, official warns (Reuters, 11 September)

  • At debate, Trump shares falsehoods about pet-eating, infanticide (Reuters, 11 September)

• MENA

  • Israeli army investigates claims of fabricated stories in The Jewish Chronicle (Arab News, 12 September)

• RUSSIA

  • The Russian authorities have been slowing down YouTube for two months - and preventing it from being accelerated. Did they achieve what they wanted? It seems not quite (Meduza, 12 September)

  • Fighting Russian Disinformation Must Be a Team Sport (Bloomberg, 11 September)

  • Why the Kremlin Loves Social Media (Politico, 7 September)

• CAUCASUS

  • Russian Intelligence Claims US Plot to Undermine Georgian Elections Via OSCE (Caucasus Watch, 12 September)

  • Georgian President Eyes Second Term, Seeks to Counter Pro-Russian Influence (Caucasus Watch, 12 September)

• CENTRAL ASIA

  • All quiet on the CA front!