Disinfo Docket 28 May

Hi! I'm Kate and welcome to DisinfoDocket. DisinfoDocket curates influence operations-related academic research, news, events and job opportunities.

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Highlights

1. A weaponized AI chatbot is flooding city councils with climate misinformation (Canada's National Observer, 28 May)
2. Dutch intelligence unmasks previously unknown Russian hacking group 'Laundry Bear' (The Record, 27 May)
3. Combating fake news (D+C, 27 May)
4. One Washington wants to eliminate the press. The other Washington wants to save it. (Poynter, 28 May)
5. Trump and Pete Hegseth inspiring Islamic State recruitment propaganda (The Guardian, 26 May)

Happening tomorrow! Delighted to welcome Prof Tommaso Venturini, University of Geneva to @oiioxford to deliver his online talk ‘The Memeplex. The three regimes of online communication’. Join us Thursday 29 May, 15.30-16.30 BST. Register today! https://t.co/sKBXBeclJr

— Oxford Internet Institute (@oiioxford) May 28, 2025

In an age of information overload, Angie Drobnic Holan of @factchecknet writes that we must insist on standards that value truth over volume, evidence over assertion, and rigor over convenience.

🔎 The full essay can be read in our annual report: https://t.co/FUvvz8TzqN

— Full Fact (@FullFact) May 28, 2025

1. Academia & Research

1. Panacea or Pandora’s box: diverse governance strategies for conspiracy theories and their consequences in China (Nature, 27 May)
2. A Dashboard Approach to Monitoring Mpox-Related Discourse and Misinformation on Social Media (arXiv, 26 May)

2. Platforms & Technology

1. The real cost of AI is being paid in deserts far from Silicon Valley (Rest of World, 26 May)
2. Anthropic’s new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline (Tech Crunch, 22 May)
3. Uncensored AI models pose an urgent risk to global security (ASPI, 28 May)
4. Telegram announces partnership with Musk's xAI (BBC, 28 May)

3. Russia & Ukraine

1. Do Trump’s criticisms of Putin mark a turning point in his Russia policy? (Atlantic Council, 27 May)
2. New Proxy, Same as the Old Proxy: Key Sites of Russia’s Covert Influence in Poland (Alliance for Securing Democracy, 28 May)
3. 'We should respond in kind' Putin calls for Russia to 'strangle' foreign tech firms like Zoom and Microsoft (Meduza, 27 May)