Geoshawk, a disinfo dispatch: No.50

UK sanctions Russia over Kate disinfo, crypto influencers amplify Chinese MDM, army of bots promote Baku before climate summit, & 23 more key headlines from this past week!

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. Other regions are also featured.

I hope you enjoy Geoshawk!

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Tech Watch:

• How Adobe And Others Defend Credibility Amidst Misinformation (Forbes, 26 October)

• LinkedIn says it has verified 55 million users in effort to combat AI’s spread of scams, misinformation (CNBC, 25 October)

• Google urged to step up efforts to demonetize climate falsehoods (Techxplore, 25 October)

Global Miscellaneous News & Research:

• Miscellaneous News & Research:

  • 71% of Social Media Financial Advice Misleads Gen Z and Millennials (Social Capital Markets, 30 October)

  • How Cognitive Biases Make Us Vulnerable to Disinformation – and What We Can Do about It (PEN America, 30 October)

  • Expert explains how misinformation thrives on emotional triggers—and why traditional fact-checking often misses the mark (Phys, 29 October)

  • Misinformation and disinformation: Both prebunking and debunking work for fighting them, finds study (Phys, 25 October)

• Other regions:

  • Climate Disinformation Is Compromising Taiwan’s Efforts in Defending Democracy (The Diplomat, 31 October)

  • Cryptocurrency promoters on X amplify China-aligned disinformation (VOA News, 29 October)

  • Sanctions for Russian disinformation linked to Kate rumours (BBC, 28 October)

    • UK sanctions Russian 'disinformation agencies' (Reuters, 28 October)

  • Political Polarization Poses Health Risks, New Analysis Concludes (NYU, 25 October)

Regions:

• USA

  • Musk's X ineffective against surge in US election misinformation, report says (Reuters, 31 October)

  • A baseless voting claim is being amplified by a network of social media accounts (NPR, 30 October)

  • Ballot drop boxes, long a target of misinformation, face physical threats (CBS News, 30 October)

  • State Department’s little-known weapon for countering foreign disinformation faces uncertain future (Politico, 29 October)

  • The Covert War for American Minds (Foreign Affairs, 29 October)

  • The majority of Americans are concerned about misinformation in the news, according to new research (BBC, 29 October)

  • How X users can earn thousands from US election misinformation and AI images (BBC, 29 October)

  • Russian, Chinese and Cuban accounts are amplifying hurricane misinformation, US official says (Reuters, 29 October)

  • Senator questions internet domain companies over Russian disinformation charges (Recorded Future, 24 October)

• Middle East

  • Türkiye looks to expose lies of Israel through new platform (Daily Sabah, 30 October)

• Russia

  • Ukraine counter-disinformation specialist uses frontline experience to win over clients (Intelligence Online, 25 October)

• Caucasus

  • Election body vows to provide “accurate, objective” information on parliamentary vote, not to leave “disinformation” “unchallenged” (Agenda, 30 October)

  • Army of bots promotes petrostate hosting global climate talks (Washington Post, 29 October)

  • Georgia's crucial vote was marred by intimidation, European monitors say (NPR, 27 October)

  • Georgian government officials raid American think tank staff members’ homes (The Hill, 24 October)

• Central Asia

  • All quiet here!