Geoshawk, a disinfo digest: Issue No.25
Copycop strikes, OpenAI + Microsoft launche counter-election deepfakes strategy, don't hype the disinfo threat (& don't undervalue it), US Soldier detained in Russia leaves a TikTok trail, & more
Hey, I’m Alan, and welcome to Geoshawk. Geoshawk curates top weekly headlines & research on Mis/Disinformation, Influence Ops, Tech, & Election Integrity.
I hope you are enjoying Geoshawk!
GLOBAL HIGHLIGHTS:
Generative AI’s disinformation threat is ‘overblown,’ top cyber expert says (CNBC, 9 May)
OpenAI Joins C2PA Steering Committee (Businesswire, 7 May)
OpenAI Releases ‘Deepfake’ Detector to Disinformation Researchers (NYT, 7 May)
Don’t Hype the Disinformation Threat (Foreign Affairs, 3 May)
A multilingual analysis of pro Russian misinformation on Twitter during the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Nature, 2 May)
ELECTION INTEGRITY:
Microsoft and OpenAI launch $2M fund to counter election deepfakes (Techcrunch, 7 May)
How Generative AI Is Helping Fact-Checkers Flag Election Disinformation, But Is Less Useful in the Global South (Global Investigative Journalism Network, 8 May)
Meet the alliance helping Google and Meta fight election-related misinformation in India (Restofworld, 7 May)
Neo4j Empowers Syracuse University with $250K Grant to Tackle Misinformation in 2024 Elections (Datanami, 8 May)
EU's Green Deal target of disinformation ahead of June vote (Japantoday, 9 May)
USA:
Student Journalists Face Storm of Campus Protest Disinformation (WIRED, 9 May)
Gun violence misinformation has found a new home on Chinese language social media, report says (NBC, 8 May)
RUSSIA:
Moldova fights to free itself from Russia’s AI-powered disinformation machine (Politico, 7 May)
France summons Russian ambassador over disinformation campaign (France24, 7 May)
Russia is Winning the Global Information War (RUSI, 7 May)
A Russian Influence Campaign Is Exploiting College Campus Protests (WIRED, 8 May)
Kyiv Says Russian Operatives Dominating on TikTok in Ukraine (Bloomberg, 7 May)
Russia-Linked CopyCop Uses LLMs to Weaponize Influence Content at Scale (Recorded Future, 9 May)
The TikTok Trail Of The U.S. Soldier Arrested In Russia Left By His Russian 'Wife' (RFERL, 7 May)
Ukraine detains two over alleged Zelenskyy assassination plot (Semafor, 8 May)
MENA:
How an Iranian-linked influence campaign pivoted after Oct. 7 attack on Israel (Cyberscoop, 8 May)
Reuters wins Pulitzer for Israel-Gaza photography (Poynter, 6 May)
CAUCASUS:
Russia’s Georgia strategy offers hints of Kremlin vision for Ukraine (Atlantic Council, 9 May)
Armenia remains freest country in region for media (civilnet, 4 May)
CENTRAL ASIA:
Kazakhstan: Misinformation and punishment (Eurasianet, 9 May)
Uzbekistan drops 11 lines in Press Freedom Index (KUN, 3 May)