DisinfoDocket 5 October

DisinfoDocket curates influence operations-related academic research, news, events and job opportunities.

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Highlights:

1. REPORT: Disinformation and freedom of opinion and expression during armed conflicts (UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Expression, 3 October)
2. Suppressing the truth and spreading lies: How the CCP is influencing Solomon Islands’ information environment (ASPI, 5 October)

How the Chinese Communist Party is spreading lies in Solomon Islands (ASPI, 5 October)

Solomon Islands Insisted China References Be Removed Before Signing US-Pacific Partnership Declaration (The Diplomat, 5 October)

3.  Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights (The White House)

How to Read the White House’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights (Janet Haven, 4 October)

1. Academia & Research

1. Lethal Subcultures: This short report applies subcultural theory to the problem of violent extremist organisation, conceptualising violent extremism as a lethal subculture. (CREST, 15 September)
2. Pro-Kremlin Network Impersonates Legitimate Websites and Floods Social Media with Lies (ISD, 29 September)
3. Inside the ‘Journalisten Friekorps’, a pro-Kremlin influence operation (ISD, September)
4. Impact Report: Evaluating PEN America's Media Literacy Program (PEN America & Stanford Social Media Lab, September)

2. Platforms & Technology

1. Data About the Creator Economy Varies So Widely No One Knows How Many Influencers There Are (Observer, 1 October)
2. Facebook And Instagram Are Full Of Violent Erotica Ads From ByteDance- And Tencent-Backed Apps (Forbes, 30 September)
3. Twitter, Musk and Why Online Speech Gets Moderated (Washington Post, 3 October)
4. How the Supreme Court could change the internet as we know it (NBC, 4 October)
5. Meta's AI Chief Publishes Paper on Creating ‘Autonomous’ Artificial Intelligence (Vice, 4 October)
6. Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for original price, weeks before trial (Washington Post, 4 October)
7. TikTok Seen Moving Toward U.S. Security Deal, but Hurdles Remain (NYT, 26 September)

3. Russia & Ukraine

1. The Cozy Relationship Between Russian State and Criminal Actors (Recorded Future, 20 September)
2. The foreign observers behind Ukraine’s sham referenda (Centre for Information Resilience, 3 October)
3. Russia blocks SoundCloud, citing spread of 'false information,' Interfax reports (Reuters, 2 October)
4. Russia fines TikTok for 'LGBT propaganda', Twitch over Ukraine content (Reuters, 4 October)
5. Russian Propaganda Dominates Moldova’s Gagauzia (Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 3 October)
6. US podcaster spread Kremlin narratives on Nord Stream sabotage (Brookings, 3 October)
7. Musk’s plan to end Russian war infuriates Ukraine on Twitter (AP, 4 October)

4. Asia & Australasia

1. Inside a Myanmar Coup botnet that blasted US Army Facebook (Financial Review, 4 October)
2. The Tech Site That Took On China’s Surveillance State (The Atlantic, 29 September)
3. Suspected Chinese hackers tampered with Canadian chat program: researchers (Global News, 30 September)
4. Turkish journalist groups slam bill to fight disinformation (ABC, 4 October)
5. New report shows the Chinese Communist Party launched coordinated disinformation campaign after Solomon Islands riots (ABC, 4 October)
6. Taiwan Local Elections Are Where China’s Disinformation Strategies Begin (Council on Foreign Relations, 4 October)

5. Middle East & Africa

1. United States (U.S) Embassy in Addis Ababa Launches Tech Camp, facilitated by international and local trainers, who are designers, developers, and disinformation trackers (Zawya, 3 October)
2. As Iran protests persist, supreme leader blames foreigners for unrest (Washington Post, 3 October)

6. Americas & Europe

1. Office of the National Cyber Director Requests Your Insight and Expertise on Cyber Workforce, Training, and Education (The White House, 3 October)
2. Disinformation targeting U.S. Latino communities is widespread. Here's why. (IJNet, 29 September)
3. U.S. in Oath Keepers trial outlines alleged plotting before Capitol attack (Washington Post, 3 October)
4. How a false narrative about Republicans being hunted took root (Washington Post, 3 October)
5. How tweets, lies from India fueled Hindu-Muslim unrest in central England (Al Arabiya, 4 October)
6. Queen’s funeral was not cover-up for planning global recession (Full Fact, 3 October)
7. Mexico's president denies his government spied on journalists with Pegasus software (AXIOS, 4 October)

7. Elections & Democracy

1. New Study Identifies Dynamics of “Stop the Steal” Images on Twitter (Tech Policy Press, 29 September)
2. This Is the Biggest Threat to Our Election System (CNET, 3 October)
3. Right-wing disinformation ramps up on WeChat ahead of midterms, report finds (NBC, 3 October)
4. Russia and China are promoting US voting misinformation ahead of midterms, FBI warns (CNN, 3 October)
5. Researchers explore misinformation during Quebec election campaign (Global News, 3 October)
6. During Kenya’s election, NED partners target online misinformation (NED, 4 October)
7. Guardian US expands democracy coverage with the appointment of a democracy correspondent and wider team to examine threats to democracy in America (Guardian, 4 October)

Democracy, poisoned: America’s elections are being attacked at every level (Guardian, 4 October)

8. Science & Health

1. Penn researchers explore how COVID misinformation hampers child vax rates (AXIOS, 4 October)

9. Tools, Legislation & Countermeasures

1. Multimodal Biometrics: A Better Security System? (CREST, 28 September)
2. Governance, not Moderation: remarks at the Trust and Safety Research Conference (Ethan Zuckerman, 30 September)
3. Supreme Court To Consider Whether Tech Companies—Like Google, Twitter—Can Be Held Liable For Content Recommendations (Forbes, 3 October)
4. Clemson to work with the University at Buffalo to help older adults recognize online scams and disinformation through $5 million-grant (Clemson, 3 October)
5. Advancing Media Literacy in Indonesia: Building Resilience and Measuring Behavior Change (Moonshot, 2022)
6. Reducing Polarization Through Critical Thinking and Common Ground (Forbes, 4 October)
7. Non-profit, The Shadowserver Foundation launches alliance to continue to build a safer, more secure internet (Shadowserver, 4 October)

10. Extremism, Violence & Harassment

1. How a Baffling Mistake Revealed Q’s Identity (Q Origins Project, 29 September)
2. Fight over social media’s role in terror content goes to Supreme Court (Washington Post, 3 October)

11. Events

1. Disinformation: An Emerging War Weapon (NDU Foundation, 20 October)
2. “Should Donald Trump Be Returned to Social Media?”  (Stanford/UCLA, October 14)

12. Opportunities

1. Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge 2022 (GEODE)
2. Associate Director, Cyber Statecraft Initiative (Atlantic Council)
3. Assistant Professor, JOUR-Philip Merrill College of Journalism (University of Maryland)
4. Deputy Director, Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative (GMF)