Social Media

Fri, Aug 23, 2024

How AI tools fueled online conspiracy theories after Trump assassination attempt

Deepfakes, cheapfakes, and AI-fueled scams spread online following the shooting; in other instances, real footage was dismissed as fake

by Beatriz Farrugia

Artificial Intelligence Elections

Tue, Aug 6, 2024

Pro-Russian Facebook pages spread anti-French, anti-UN content in West Africa

Network of inauthentic pro-Russian pages spread false claims targeting elections, France, and the UN peacekeeping mission in CAR

by Valentin Châtelet

Advertising Africa

Thu, Aug 1, 2024

China deployed anti-US narratives in chaos following Trump assassination attempt

Chinese messaging on state media and social media worked to position itself at a volatile moment in domestic US politics

China Disinformation

Wed, Jul 31, 2024

Lessons learned from South Africa’s 2024 elections

Independent media and civil society worked overtime to mitigate the spread of disinformation, while generative AI played only a limited role

Artificial Intelligence Democracy

Tue, Jul 30, 2024

Inauthentic Chinese X accounts amplifying Trump shooting and Biden withdrawal conspiracy theories

Spreading false and misleading anti-US narratives, the network highly resembles operation known as Spamouflage Dragon

China Disinformation

Mon, Jul 29, 2024

Fringe YouTube channels promote pro-Kremlin narratives in Africa

Channels attracted millions of views and hundreds of thousands of subscribers by using anti-Western content directed at African audiences

by Valentin Châtelet

Africa Cameroon
Screenshot of a Facebook ad displaying Ilan Shor's allegations that "the collective West aims to seize Moldova" and "the West means war and fear."

Mon, Jul 8, 2024

Inauthentic Facebook ad campaign spreads anti-EU messages

Facebook pages disguised as neutral news sources sponsored ads to promote anti-EU narratives ahead of Moldova's referendum on EU integration

by Victoria Olari

Advertising Deceptive Content Manipulation

Mon, Jul 8, 2024

Spambots continue to suppress speech and enable harassment of the Chinese community on X

Networks of Chinese-language spambots risk the censoring of posts during politically sensitive events, repeating past oversights

Botnets China
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping attend a signing ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 21, 2023. (Source: Sputnik/Vladimir Astapkovich/Kremlin via Reuters)

Wed, Jun 12, 2024

In Sub-Saharan Africa, China embraces Russian messaging against Ukraine

Russian narratives thrive in Sub-Saharan Africa with the help of Chinese media networks, localization expertise, and infrastructure

by Digital Forensic Research Lab

Africa Cameroon
Words of Iron promo screenshots

Tue, Jun 11, 2024

Online tool helps social media accounts amplify pro-Israel messages

“Words of Iron” represents a shift in the evolving approach to digital propaganda during times of war

Instagram Israel
screenshot of Facebook ad featuring Elon Musk, whose voice has been altered to promote a scam.

Thu, Jun 6, 2024

Spanish-language ads amplify scams using audio deepfakes of public figures

Scammers fabricated interviews with politicians and tech moguls to present supposed investments as legitimate government-backed programs

by Daniel Suárez Pérez

Deceptive Content Manipulation Disinformation

Mon, Jun 3, 2024

Doppelganger targets US audience on X to discredit Georgian protests

The latest iteration of the Russia-attributed campaign discredits pro-democracy protests in Georgia

by Eto Buziashvili

Disinformation Georgia