• Senior Fellow

Emerson T. Brooking

Emerson T. Brooking is a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council and coauthor of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media. He is an expert in the fields of disinformation, terrorist communication, and internet policy, and recently led an initiative to secure the integrity of the 2020 U.S. election. Previously, he was a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he studied U.S. defense policy. Brooking has spoken regularly on the topic of information warfare and social media manipulation, advising multiple U.S. technology companies and national security entities.

Brooking’s coauthored November 2016 cover story for the Atlantic, “War Goes Viral,” predicted the widespread utilization of social media as a tool of warfare. He has published additional work in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post, and Rolling Stone, among others. Brooking has appeared regularly on broadcast media, including NPR’s “Fresh Air.”

Brooking holds a BA in Political Science and Classical Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He was named to the Forbes “30 Under 30” Class of 2019 and is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Some of Brooking’s publications include:


Americans Were Worried About the Wrong Threat

Op-Ed: For right-wing extremists, this was a victory

Foreign Influence Operations After 2020

The Head of US Intelligence Has Ceased to Be an Honest Broker

Dichotomies of Disinformation: Project Overview & Codebook

War Goes Viral

July 2024

How Russian propagandists spun the Trump assassination attempt

by Emerson T. Brooking, Eto Buziashvili, Andy Carvin, Ruslan Trad

Conspiracy theories, alarmism, and early attempts to link the shooting with Ukraine
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May 2022

Russian gamer banned after drawing the letter Z during esports competition

by Emerson T. Brooking

Russian team Virtus.pro was competing against Ukrainian players during Dota 2 tournament at the time of the incident.
read more
April 2022

Russian War Report: Google refutes misleading claims about blurring Russian military assets

by Digital Forensic Research Lab

Thousands of posts online claim Google Maps unblurred satellite images of Russian military installations. Meanwhile, Russia hesitates to ban YouTube and a troll campaign distracts from Bucha.
read more