Laura Rosenberger and Thomas Morley, March 11th, 2019, Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund of the U.S.https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/russias-promotion-of-illiberal-populism-tools-tactics-networks/ Understanding the rise of illiberal populism has been a focus of recent debate on both sides of the Atlantic. This “illiberal international” has many faces, often seemingly at odds: Donald Trump and Jill Stein in the United […]Read More

Chris Zappone, March 12, 2019, The Strategist https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/in-fighting-online-interference-the-first-line-of-defence-is-the-mind/ ‘Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests’, British statesman Lord Palmerston famously observed. Two centuries later, the adage of foreign policy remains true but the internet extends its relevance into a nation’s domestic affairs. That’s because the internet and social media give […]Read More

Social Media are being weaponizedEconomist, March 14th, 2019https://www.economist.com/special-report/2019/03/16/preparing-for-conflicts-by-cyber-means When Latvia conducted its biggest-ever national military exercise last August, which mobilized more than 10,000 people, a group of researchers discovered that using only open-source information they could identify about 10% of the individuals involved—and use that knowledge to track the exercise in real time. They also […]Read More

Our TakeIn a new paper, ASD Director Laura Rosenberger and Research Assistant Tom Morley show how the Russian government and its proxies nurture and shape illiberal populist movements as a means of destabilizing the West. Earlier this month, Rosenberger presented the paper to a conference, “Global Populisms and their International Diffusion,” at Stanford University’s Freeman […]Read More

The Department of Defense continued support for fundamental research by selecting 12 faculty investigators for awards through the fiscal year 2018 Minerva Research Initiative.  Several of the winners:The Role of Emotions in Adversarial Information CampaignsPI: Susannah Paletz (University of Maryland) Topic Area (ONR): Adversarial Information Campaigns Monitoring the Content and Measuring the Effectiveness of Russian […]Read More

‘Sealioning’ is a common trolling tactic on social media – what is it? Marshall Shepherd, March 7, 2019, Forbes magazinehttps://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2019/03/07/sealioning-is-a-common-trolling-tactic-on-social-media-what-is-it/#710d87597a41 There are times in life that you know something when you see it. In competitive sports, a very talented player usually stands out above the others. I can identify within seconds whether I will dislike the […]Read More

The next generation of repressive technology will make past efforts to spread propaganda and quash dissent look primitive.By  Richard Fontaine and Kara Frederick, March 15, 2019, Wall Street Journalhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-autocrats-new-tool-kit-11552662637 Chinese authorities are now using the tools of big data to detect departures from “normal” behavior among Muslims in the country’s Xinjiang region-and then to identify each […]Read More

A Newsletter of Political Warfare, Influence, and Information Campaigns from the Pell Center at Salve Regina University Sign up for the Active Measures Newsletter here. Top stories this week: Target: AmericaRussian Trools Shift Strategy to Disrupt U.S. Election in 2020 | Alyza Sebenius | Bloomberg Russia Sought to Interfere with U.S. Election Systems in 2018 Midterms, U.S. Official […]Read More

A New #DisinfoReview from the EU East StratCom Task Force. Your weekly update on pro-Kremlin disinformation *TRENDS OF THE WEEK*Fatal Distraction It is easy to get distracted in today’s information abundance. It might be even easier in the disinformation space. ‘I will think about it tomorrow’ – have you quoted Scarlett O’Hara at some point in your life, just looking for a […]Read More

Facing Legal Scrutiny, China’s State TV Recalls Its U.S. Head Paul Mozur, New York Times, March 8th, 2019 China’s state broadcaster is recalling the head of its American arm and more than a dozen other employees back to China in a leadership shake-up as scrutiny grows in the United States over the unit’s connections to […]Read More