Influence Operations

If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you are misinformed. I first heard this quote on YouTube when Denzel Washington said it, and I thought it was a good preface to this article. If you, like me, wanted to know the origin of…

The pro-Russian hashtag trended globally after it was amplified by suspect network of accounts — By Jean Le Roux Over the week of February 28, 2022, the hashtag #IStandWithPutin trended in several regions, ostensibly in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A deeper look at the origin and amplification of the hashtag suggested this support was less widespread than social media trends indicated, and that…

The War on Fakes Telegram channel pushes false and misleading content in defense of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — By Ingrid Dickinson On February 23, 2022, the Telegram channel Война с фейками (“War on Fakes”) first appeared online, ending its first day with a modest 161 subscribers. It quickly skyrocketed; within two weeks, War on Fakes grew to over 625,000 subscribers and is now one of the top Telegram…

I’ll be posting new reports on Chinese disinformation on my new substack @ https://nickmonaco.substack.com/. You can also follow the new Miburo Solutions substack publication, where I’ll be publishing these articles https://miburo.substack.com/. Subscribe to both and get emails notifying you immediately when they land!

First Draft researchers Carlotta Dotto and Seb Cubbon, along with Stefano Cresci, Serena Tardelli and Leonardo Nizzoli from the Institute of Informatics and Telematics of Pisa, explore new approaches to the complex phenomenon of online coordination. As researchers of disinformation, we inherit terms and concepts from platforms that can shape…

Anti-racist rhetoric used as cover for a social media campaign targeting South African banks as they sever ties with local business empire — In April 2021, a coordinated campaign targeting two South African banks surfaced on Twitter. While superficially taking aim at systemic racism in South Africa’s banking sector, beneath the #RacistBanksMustFall hashtag’s altruistic veneer were the vested interests of Sekunjalo Independent Media, owners of South Africa’s third largest news organization.

In January 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent an investigation team to Wuhan, China to determine the likely origins of COVID-19. The investigation came on the heels of rampant rumors accusing China of causing the pandemic due to human error at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Weeks prior to…

Whenever the cybersecurity community — technical analysts, policy wonks, government officials, journalists on the beat, etc. — talk about how we perceive or interpret a threat publicly, we are providing material that could be exploited by the responsible adversary in a feedback loop. This feedback loop may inform how that…