Geoshawk Issue No.13
DFRLab drops a lengthy report on Russian Info-Ops in 2023, 166 million disinfo posts about Ukraine, fake assassination on Tucker garners massive views, & Meta launches counter-misinfo campaign
Fröhlichen Freitag! (HAPPY FRIDAY!)
Alright alright alright, welcome to the 13th drop of Geoshawk. Let’s begin :)
Global:
Vast majority views disinformation as a threat to democracy and social cohesion, German study finds (Phys)
Meta launches safety campaign to tackle online misinformation
Election Integrity:
Sen. Warner: US is less prepared to secure the 2024 election than 2020 (Cyberscoop)
Pennsylvania Plans Task Force to Combat Election Disruptions (NY Times)
European Union cracks down on political advertising in run-up to elections (Marketing-Beat)
Newsguard debuts new automation tools for tracking election-related misinformation
“For the debut of its “Election Misinformation Tracking Center,” NewsGuard has developed new AI-assisted tools for early detection of election-related misinformation. The tools, which debut yesterday, will be used across websites, social media platforms and video channels to help track false or misleading claims about elections…New elements include both internally built features using open-source tools and data from external partners including media monitoring startups like Meltwater and NewsWhip.”
US:
Court Tosses California Doctors’ Covid Disinformation Suit (1) (Bloomberg Law)
Online disinformation fuelling migrant surge at US border (NST)
Russia:
Undermining Ukraine: How Russia widened its global information war in 2023 (Atlantic Council DFRLab)
Another Ukraine: a disinformation platform run by an exiled Ukrainian oligarch in Russia (France24)
“The project is officially led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a leading figure pushing pro-Kremlin interests in post-Soviet Ukraine, but it is orchestrated behind the scenes by Ilya Gambashidze’s Social Design Agency, a Russian IT company closely linked to the Kremlin whose digital disinformation campaigns are now targeting international opinion.”
Deepfake dystopia — Russia's disinformation in Spain and Italy (EU Observer)
Ukraine expects billion-dollar Russian disinformation campaign to peak this spring (The Record)
“Danilov said that Russian agents spread 166 million disinformation posts about Ukraine on platforms such as Telegram, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter every week…Of these, for example, 36 million posts made last week were aimed at discrediting Ukrainian officials; 23.5 million at ending political and military unity; 51 million at demoralising the defenders; and 55 million at demoralising the public.”
“The means to amplify this disinformation from its obscure YouTube origins with just a few hundred subscribers to the millions of X users also points to a misinformation-laundering scheme.”
Putin has new cyber-tools that threaten democracy, Ukraine warns (The Times)
MENA:
Complicated history helps Russian narratives about Ukraine find a foothold in the Middle East (Atlantic Council DFRLab)
Media experts at Web Summit stress need to tackle disinformation (Doha News)
“The world’s largest technology conference gathered 15,453 attendees from 118 countries. The major event gathered 1,043 startups, marking the largest such gathering of startups ever in the Middle East.”
VOA Statement Denouncing Actions by Tehran Revolutionary Court Against VOA Journalists (Inside VOA)
Pro-Russian Media Narrative Takes Hold in Egypt (National Interest)
Caucasus:
In Europe and the South Caucasus, the Kremlin leans on energy blackmail and scare tactics (Atlantic Council DFRLab)
Azerbaijani MoD: Armenia's disinformation machine continues its activities (apa.az)
Robin Dunnigan: I think there is a real threat that disinformation from Russia will threaten confidence in the democratic system (Interpress news)
FYI Robin Dunnigan is the US Ambassador to Georgia
Central Asia:
No MDM / Info-Ops-related news for Central Asia today!