Chung Li-hua and Jake Chung, Taipei Times, August 4th 2019http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2019/08/04/2003719873 China is using local “agents” and intermediary organizations as a front in its cyberwarfare efforts against Taiwan, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research said in an article. The report, carried by the Ministry of National Defense-affiliated think tank’s monthly gazette and authored by […]Read More

https://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2019/july/knight-foundation-disinformation.html Bots, trolls, state-run propaganda, information warfare and hate speech are some of the most pervasive ways that societal discourse is being warped in the modern era. Carnegie Mellon University today announced the creation of a new research center dedicated to the study of online disinformation and its effects on democracy, funded by a $5 […]Read More

Commentary by Frank Adkins and Shawn HibbardWar on the Rocks, August 6th 2019https://warontherocks.com/2019/08/the-coming-automation-of-propaganda/ If you want a vision of the future, imagine a thousand bots screaming from a human face – forever (apologies to George Orwell). As U.S. policymakers remain indecisive over how to prevent a repeat of the 2016 election interference, the threat is looming […]Read More

Our Take Participating in our democracy is one important way to protect it, argued Director Laura Rosenberger in an interview with the Bertelsmann Foundation. Political leaders on both sides of the aisle must come together to secure American elections, Head of Policy and Research Jessica Brandt told ABC7 News. Moscow seeks to undermine Americans’ confidence in the election system and […]Read More

Russell Hsiao, July 16 2019, China Brief from the Jamestown Foundation. https://jamestown.org/program/a-preliminary-survey-of-ccp-influence-operations-in-singapore/ Editor’s note: Our previous issue contained an article by Russell Hsiao that profiled institutions and methods employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to cultivate influence in Japan (A Preliminary Survey of CCP Influence Operations in Japan, June 26, 2019). In this issue, Mr. […]Read More

Joshua Kurlantzick, July 29th 2019, Council on Foreign Relations blog https://www.cfr.org/blog/chinas-soft-and-sharp-power-strategies-southeast-asia-accelerating-are-they-having-impact In a recent analysis for the Jamestown Foundation, Russell Hsiao of the Global Taiwan Institute presented a thorough and compelling case of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence operations in Singapore. Singapore is a critical state for China in Southeast Asia, given the outsized role Singapore plays […]Read More

Harper Neidig, August 1st 2019, The Hill. https://thehill.com/policy/technology/455774-facebook-takes-down-saudi-linked-disinformation-network. Facebook’s Press Release –> https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/08/cib-uae-egypt-saudi-arabia/ Facebook said Thursday that it had removed an online disinformation campaign with ties to the Saudi government that was aimed at spreading propaganda across the Middle East. It’s the first time Facebook has revealed any Saudi-linked efforts to spread disinformation on its […]Read More

Lisa Kaplan, July 23rd 2019, Brookingshttps://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/07/23/four-steps-to-stop-the-spread-of-disinformation-online/ The public discussion of disinformation often focuses on targeted candidates, without recognizing that disinformation actually targets voters. In the case of elections, actors both foreign and domestic are trying to influence whether or not you as an individual vote, and for whom to cast your ballot. The effort goes farther than elections: it […]Read More

Kate Starbird, 24 July 2019, Naturehttps://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02235-x Misconceptions about disinformation leave us vulnerable to manipulation online, says Kate Starbird. Earlier this month, the White House hosted a ‘Social Media Summit’ that served to reframe and distract from serious, hostile manipulation of online discourse. Much ink has already been spilt on the algorithms, business models and human […]Read More