ASD contributes long and short form research products and analysis to inform and engage our audience on a range of issues related to malign foreign interference. In addition, we develop policy recommendations and strategies to close vulnerabilities and safeguard institutions from authoritarian threats.
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August 2021
Hamilton Toplines: July 26-August 1, 2021
Russia As with most international media outlets, Russian state media outlets focused heavily on coverage of the Tokyo Olympics last week, a topic discussed in more detail in a recently published ASD blog post. They also continued to stoke vaccine sk [...]
Politics, Patriotism, and Propaganda: How Russia, China, and Iran Are Covering the Tokyo Olympics
Authoritarians have long used international sporting competitions as a platform for advancing political and geopolitical agendas, from using the successes of their athletes to boost national pride to opportunistically leveraging the global spotlight [...]
July 2021
Hamilton Toplines: July 19-25, 2021
Russia The announcement of a U.S.-Germany deal on Nord Stream 2 last week provoked some criticism from Russian diplomats, who objected to the agreement’s “hostile” stance toward Russia. RIA Novosti also ran at least a couple of articles highlighting [...]
Ten Principles for a Healthier Information Space Across the Atlantic
ASD's Nad’a Kovalčíková and Globsec's Dominika Hajdu and Miroslava Sawiris present the Alliance for Healthy Infosphere's Ten Transatlantic Principles for a Healthy Online Information Space. The U.S. Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, fueled by dis [...]
Top 5 German Election Dashboard Takeaways
Germany’s upcoming federal election in September is not only important for the German people but can be an alluring target for foreign and domestic actors seeking to influence the future trajectory of the country or seeking to undermine democratic p [...]
Dissidents: They Get the Job Done
Iranian operatives' attempt to kidnap Masih Alinejad highlights the critical role that dissidents and defectors play in combatting authoritarianism—as well as the risks autocrats will take to silence them. Earlier this month, federal prosecutors an [...]
Hamilton Toplines: July 12-18, 2021
Russia In coverage of the anti-government protests in Cuba, Russian state media amplified calls to end the U.S. embargo on the country and Cuban officials’ accusations that U.S.-funded mercenaries are fomenting the protests. The Russian Foreign Mini [...]
Between Messaging and Manipulation: How Russia, China, Turkey, and Iran Engaged in German Political Discourses in June 2021
What We’re Seeing on the 2021 German Elections Dashboard In June, as in previous months, foreign state-backed media and diplomatic accounts actively engaged in online German political discourses, at times manipulating information. Russian actors con [...]
The Illusion of a Russian Media Empire: How Anonymous Bloggers and Obfuscated Identities Power the Troll Factory’s Successor
What becomes of a Kremlin troll farm when its fake accounts are repeatedly taken down? It sheds its skin and morphs into something new, all while continuing its efforts to bend public opinion towards a Putinesque view of the world. Since its much-pu [...]
Hamilton Toplines: July 5-11, 2021
Russian state media and diplomats extensively covered the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan last week, with Afghanistan ranking as the third most mentioned country and “Taliban” as one of the top 10 key phrases by monitored accounts. Notable narrativ [...]
June 2021
2021 German Elections Dashboard Analysis for May
What We're Seeing on the 2021 German Elections Dashboard Russia Covid-19 Following April’s trend, Russian state-backed actors continued their extensive coverage of coronavirus-related topics. Six of the seven most watched YouTube videos from RT Deu [...]
Enhancing the Security of Electronic Pollbooks is Essential for Election Integrity
ASD Elections Integrity Fellow David Levine and the Open Source Election Technology Institute’s Global Director of Technology Development and Open Standards Edward Perez lay out ways to bolster election integrity by strengthening the security of el [...]