Disinfo Docket 21 August

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Highlights

🚨 Farhan Asif - who I first revealed here - has now been arrested by police in Pakistan.

Check out my investigative report from a couple of weeks ago exposing the real story behind a site spreading disinfo about Southport attack & accused of fuelling violence. https://t.co/tPe8qoVeHY

— Marianna Spring (@mariannaspring) August 21, 2024

1. Iran hacked Trump campaign, US intelligence confirms (BBC, 19 August)
2. Big Crypto, Big Spending: Crypto Corporations Spend an Unprecedented $119 Million Influencing Elections (Public Citizen, 21 August)
3. Why the Myth of Noncitizen Voting Persists (Brennan Center, 21 August)
4. Cold Allies: Foreign interference, intervention and an epidemic (Coda Story, 16 August)

Insikt Group has identified a significant increase in cyber threat activity from #GreenCharlie, an Iran-nexus group that overlaps with #MintSandstorm, #CharmingKitten, and #APT42. pic.twitter.com/ssP8Tk9Tpu

— Recorded Future (@RecordedFuture) August 20, 2024

1. Academia & Research

1. Internal Fractures: The Competing Logics of Social Media Platforms (Sage Journals, July-September 2024)
2. Narrative reversals and story success (Science Advances, 21 August)

𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂?
Francesca Gentile, a researcher at CIR, looks into how disinformation is increasingly weaponised against women and minority groups. She takes us through an example from a recent CIR report on identity-based… pic.twitter.com/z8JZCaMHGS

— Centre for Information Resilience (@Cen4infoRes) August 21, 2024

2. Platforms & Technology

1. The MAGA Aesthetic is AI Slop (The Atlantic, 21 August)
2. How a Law That Shields Big Tech Is Now Being Used Against It (The New York Times, 20 August)

3. Russia & Ukraine

1. As Telegram, WhatsApp, and numerous other web services go down in Russia, Moscow blames attackers while activists suspect Kremlin interference (Meduza, 21 August)
2. Moscow detains scientist suspected of carrying out DDoS attacks on Russia (Recorded Future, 21 August)