Advertising

Tue, Oct 3, 2023

Georgian travel company behind inauthentic network promotes health-related clickbait content

Inauthentic network disseminated unreliable health-related content to promote travel company and increase sales

by Sopo Gelava, Jean le Roux

Advertising Disinformation

Thu, Jul 20, 2023

Russia moves conscription and contract soldier recruitment online

Russian public services portal Gosuslugi becomes cornerstone for military recruitment, including delivering online conscription notifications

by Valentin Châtelet, Eto Buziashvili

Advertising Conflict
Screencap shows a hijacked Formula TV Facebook page with newly posted images related to Google Bard, with older images from the TV network still visible. (Source: Facebook)

Mon, Apr 17, 2023

Malware masquerading as Google Bard ads targets millions of Facebook users

Perpetrators presented hijacked pages as Google’s AI service and convinced Facebook users, including a Georgian TV network, to download malicious software

by Eto Buziashvili

Advertising Facebook

Wed, Apr 5, 2023

Advertising campaign recruits contract soldiers from across Russia to fight in Ukraine

Online job postings emphasize recruiting soldiers from regions with ethnic minorities

by Valentin Châtelet

Advertising Conflict

Fri, Feb 17, 2023

Russia takes next step in domestic internet surveillance

Oculus surveillance system goes live as the Kremlin tightens public sector access to Google services.

by Eto Buziashvili

Digital Policy Electorate
Still from the movie “The Battle at Lake Changjin,” which depicts Chinese soldiers fighting UN forces during the Korean War. (Source: Xinhua)

Thu, Jan 12, 2023

How China funds foreign influence campaigns

CCP financial statements reveal details of influence operations, from news programming to documentaries to feature films

by Digital Forensic Research Lab

Advertising China
A man stands next to a building damaged by shelling during border clashes with Azerbaijan in the town of Jermuk, Armenia, September 15, 2022.

Mon, Nov 7, 2022

How the September 2022 Azerbaijan-Armenia clashes played out online

Inorganic Twitter activity, graphic Telegram footage of war crimes, and TikTok bans all surfaced in wake of recent clashes.

by Givi Gigitashvili, Esteban Ponce de León

Armenia Azerbaijan
Screenshots show a post and advertisement from the Facebook page Winsome wc5, calling for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to be implemented.

Tue, Sep 27, 2022

Russia-based Facebook operation targeted Europe with anti-Ukraine messaging

A network of inauthentic assets uncovered by the DFRLab promoted Kremlin narratives in Germany, France, Italy, Ukraine, Latvia and the UK.

by Alyssa Kann, Daniel Suárez Pérez, Mattia Caniglia, Jean le Roux, Sopo Gelava, Roman Osadchuk, Nika Aleksejeva

Advertising Baltics

Thu, Sep 15, 2022

Notorious hate group website displayed prominently in Google search results

Google displays Patriot Front URL in search results sidebar despite blocking other racist website URLs from appearing there.

by Alyssa Kann

Electorate Extremism
US President Joe Biden departs Japan on May 24, 2022. (Source: Reuters/Kyodo Pictures)

Thu, May 26, 2022

Chinese netizens accuse Biden of using gaffes as a “strategic advantage”

Chinese social media accounts disparaged the US president by claiming Biden intentionally weaponizes his verbal gaffes.

China Government
Rossiya TV video claiming to show Ukrainians dressing mannequins actually originated from behind-the-scenes footage of a Russian TV series. (Source: Rossiya TV)

Wed, Apr 13, 2022

Russian War Report: Russia promotes misleading video accusing Ukraine of using mannequins as casualties

Kremlin-controlled TV network Rossiya 24 broadcast a misleading video claiming that mannequins were being used in Ukraine to stage war casualties.

by Digital Forensic Research Lab

Russian “evidence” that Ukraine intends to invade Crimea, including linguistic and cultural clues suggesting they were made in Russia. (Source: Telegram)

Fri, Mar 25, 2022

Russian War Report: Russia produces “evidence” claiming Ukraine will attack Crimea

A pro-Kremlin Telegram channel published suspect photos of alleged medals and certificates to reward Ukranian troops for recapturing Crimea.

by Digital Forensic Research Lab