ASD’s Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine joined with experts from the Brennan Center, Pitt Cyber, and R Street to produce a new report that provides an in-depth look at the equipment, staffing, supplies, and other costs of administering electi [...]
Election officials should take three essential steps to ensure elections conducted amidst the coronavirus pandemic are free, fair, and secure, Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine argues in The Fulcrum. He suggests that officials follow professio [...]
Program Manager Nad'a Kovalcikova spoke to Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad about China's disinformation efforts in Europe during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as reports that an EEAS report on this disinformation was toned down under pre [...]
Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai argues in Foreign Affairs that the IRGC is using traditional and social media to assert its leadership and project itself as the guardian of public health and the champion of the fight against the invisible enemy [...]
ASD Co-directors Zack Cooper and Laura Rosenberger joined the United States Studies Centre for a webinar discussion entitled "How can democracies fight against state-backed disinformation campaigns?" While the United States and Australia have increa [...]
Malign actors have been “rewriting the present” & entering the EU’s national public spheres to shape public opinion during the coronavirus pandemic. Program Manager Nad'a Kovalcikova argues that Europe needs to build a transnational, interoperab [...]
Our Take China’s new aggressive information strategy that blames the United States, spreads disinformation, and amplifies conspiracies about the coronavirus could backfire and undermine any positive image China has managed to develop, Director Laur [...]
Russia Toplines The leading topic of the Russian media ecosystem last week was once again the coronavirus. The virus has now occupied this position for 14 straight weeks. Basic news updates on the pandemic accounted for much of this coverage. Some c [...]
Iran is ramping up its fight against the United States. "Despite the crippling toll of the pandemic," Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai and Colin P. Clarke write in Vox, "Tehran has continued to work tirelessly to eject the last remaining US force [...]
Both Russia and increasingly also China have been amplifying divisive narratives about EU and NATO member states, and transatlantic allies, during the coronavirus pandemic, Program Manager Nad'a Kovalcikova said on this European Liberal Forum webina [...]
Beijing is using new methods to spin the coronavirus pandemic to its advantage. “As it began to contain the outbreak within its own borders, Beijing launched an assertive external information campaign aimed at sculpting global discussion of its hand [...]
Introduction “For our friends, we produce fine wine. Jackals, we welcome with shotguns.” - Ambassador Gui Congyou, 2019Edward Lucas. “Sweden’s China Problem.” CEPA, January 7, 2020. This was how a Chinese ambassador warned Sweden of potential con [...]
Our Take The United States should take a more proactive stance in building an information ecosystem that works in the interests of democracies, Director Laura Rosenberger argued in Foreign Affairs. While the new coronavirus funding should help with [...]
Since February of this year, as the coronavirus pandemic has swept the globe, China has been engaging in what media commentators are calling “mask diplomacy”—the sale or donation of medical supplies to countries battling the terrible disease. Russia [...]
At the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, Iranian officials were playing it down. They were dealing in conspiracy theories and disinformation and blamed the United States for spreading the virus, Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai explained on [...]
The spread of the coronavirus has exacerbated tensions within the governmental system and between the system and the population, Middle East Fellow Ariane Tabatabai said on CSIS's podcast "Babel." Iranian state-backed media has been pushing the narr [...]
On April 15, the French ministry of foreign affairs summoned the Chinese ambassador in Paris. After weeks of incendiary rhetoric from the Chinese delegation, French authorities were incensed by an article on the embassy’s website falsely claiming th [...]
Russia Toplines For the thirteenth consecutive week, coronavirus coverage dominated the Russian media ecosystem last week, though to a slightly lesser extent than in previous weeks. As usual, much of this output consisted of basic news updates on th [...]
As China works to control a resurgence of the coronavirus, U.S. intelligence officials warn that it’s continuing to spread misinformation about where the virus originated and the country’s response to the pandemic. The goal is to make people doubt t [...]
The most recent coronavirus stimulus package signed into law includes $400 million in funds to support state and local government efforts to prevent the coronavirus from impacting the elections process. While more funding will be needed to address t [...]
Director Laura Rosenberger joined George W. Bush Institute to discuss the impact the coronavirus is having on political freedom and democratic institutions around the world. [...]
Democratic countries view information as an empowering force in the hands of people, while authoritarian systems see this model as a threat; they use surveillance, censorship, and information manipulation to shore up their power and weaken democrati [...]
Announcement Ariane Tabatabai has joined the Alliance for Securing Democracy as the Middle East Fellow. Dr. Tabatabai is also adjunct senior research scholar at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She was previously [...]
Russia Toplines As has been the case for about three months now, coverage of the coronavirus dominated the Russian media ecosystem last week. Like usual, much of the coronavirus content relayed basic news updates on various aspects of the pandemic. [...]
Our Take The United States needs to set uniform international standards for future internet technologies and push back against those that threaten civil liberties and human rights, Fellow for Emerging Technologies Lindsay Gorman argued in Lawfare. [...]
ASD Senior Fellow Kristine Berzina, EEAS East Stratcom Task Force Head Anneli Ahonen, and GMF Senior Fellows Noah Barkin and Peter Chase discussed foreign authoritarian interference in Europe during the coronavirus pandemic in this interactive webin [...]
In the past few weeks, the Chinese Communist Party has shown how adept it is at weaving narratives that distract from its own failures in handling the coronavirus outbreak, China Analyst Matthew Schrader said on Lawfare’s “ChinaTalk” podcast. [...]
Russia Toplines For the eleventh week in a row, coverage of the coronavirus dominated the Russian media ecosystem last week. As has become the norm, much of this content relayed basic news updates on various aspects of the pandemic. However, one imp [...]
Over the past three weeks, American and Chinese officials have employed escalating rhetoric in efforts to blame one another for the global coronavirus pandemic. High-ranking U.S. administration officials frequently and pointedly referred to the viru [...]
The Chinese Communist Party has seized on the importance of international standards bodies for the dual and mutually reinforcing objectives of increasing national competitiveness and building international influence on technology adoption and norms [...]
Even as Beijing endeavors to promote itself as a responsible global player with an attractive governance model that renders it capable and willing to be a go-to provider of public goods during the coronavirus pandemic, China's leaders are increasing [...]