Director of Emerging Tech @SAISHopkins, teach disinfo/IO. Frmr @Meta IO Policy Lead/ Journalist @atlanticmedia. RT≠endorsement. Views my own. Mostly on Threads
May 26, 2021 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
1/ Excited to share our 2017-2020 IO Threat Report! It looks back at the last 3+ years of our work at @Facebook to counter influence operations and analyzes the 150+ CIB takedowns we've done since 2017: about.fb.com/wp-content/upl…2/ Back in 2017, we published our first IO white paper where we described how we conceived of this problem at the time: about.fb.com/wp-content/upl…
1/ Every week, I have mentorship sessions w/ students/others interested in getting into the “field” of countering influence operations, disinformation, misinformation. Having all these conversations, I realize it might be helpful to share the advice and tips more broadly: a 🧵
2/ Normally, I break down the “field” into several different categories: investigations, policy development, advocacy, and resilience/literacy. For many of these categories, you can do this work in government, at tech companies, multilateral institutions, or in civil society.
Apr 15, 2021 • 8 tweets • 9 min read
1/ Interesting to see @USTreasury explicitly spell out role of Russian Intel Services, front orgs, outlets in global influence operations. And for those of us tracking this space, it’s helpful to map these to CIB disruptions we’ve done over the yrs, a 🧵 home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel…@USTreasury 2/ So let’s break this down. In this graphic, @USTreasury links RU intel services (FSB, GRU, SVR) to websites/outlets InfoRos, Newsfront/SouthFront, Strategic Culture Foundation. Respectively, our teams have disrupted networks linked to these in Aug '18, April ’20, Sept '20
Dec 6, 2020 • 11 tweets • 27 min read
In week 8 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we focused on how state-sponsored espionage operations, hacks and leaks can play a role in influence operations. How does the dissemination of leaked material and forgeries fit into the IO playbook?
In week 7 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we focused on role of media, state media/overt propaganda in the info ecosystem & toolbox of influence ops. What role can journalism play in inadvertently amplifying IO campaigns or conversely finding them?
@Georgetown One of my favorite pieces of all time on this subject is “Oxygen of Amplification" from @wphillips49@datasociety which looks at how the coverage choices of editors and reporters play a role in the amount of oxygen supplied to falsehoods and manipulations datasociety.net/wp-content/upl…
Nov 27, 2020 • 12 tweets • 30 min read
After a few months of a hiatus, reviving this tweet thread to cover the remaining material from weeks 6-14. Thanks to everyone for your patience waiting while work and other priorities got in the way.
In week 6 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we focused on Myanmar and the Philippines as case studies into (a) domestically aimed influence operations; and (b) how digital harassment, the silencing of activist voices can play a role in influence activities.
Aug 16, 2020 • 9 tweets • 20 min read
Thanks for your patience, class! Took a little hiatus for a month. But we're back! In week 5 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we pivoted from Russian influence activities to Chinese and Iranian IO state actors.
@Georgetown Our first reading was from @RANDCorporation's Timothy Heath @WarOnTheRocks on China's influence operations targeting the Chinese diaspora. The article does good job of highlighting distinctions between Russian and Chinese operations and their tactics warontherocks.com/2018/03/beijin…
Jul 4, 2020 • 14 tweets • 35 min read
Happy 4th of July, class! Appropriately, week 4 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown was about modern Russian influence operations. You’ll notice that we spent 2 wks on Russia this semester. That’s b/c Russia is one of the most prolific IO actors, from Soviet period to this day
@Georgetown The propaganda poster I chose for the week was this one from the 1984 elections in the USSR, which basically reads “Let’s choose the most worthy,” to go along with some of the electoral interference themes we cover in this lesson.
Jun 27, 2020 • 12 tweets • 19 min read
Now we’re getting to the juicy stuff. In week 3 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we basically had to make up for the fact that @RidT’s fantastic book had not yet come out. And I hope I did a decent job of telling the story of Soviet "Active Measures" without it.
@Georgetown@RidT One thing I haven’t yet told you about class is that I kicked off a tradition of picking a propaganda poster to thematically work with each week’s lesson. In week 3, to go along with Active Measures, I decided to go with a classic – this Не болтай! poster from 1941.
Jun 20, 2020 • 11 tweets • 9 min read
Okay class. In week 2 of “Lies & Disinformation” @Georgetown, we took a look at the evolution of propaganda & influence from analog to digital, how advancements in technology, democratization of info from the Gutenberg Press, to radio and television, the internet changed the game
The first recommended reading was an audio clip @NPR on how new technology (printing press) helped Martin Luther change Christianity (h/t to @markondefense for that idea) npr.org/transcripts/50…. @ICFJ also has a great overview on the history of info ops: icfj.org/news/short-gui…
Jun 12, 2020 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
I’ve been meaning to do this for some time: starting this week, I will be sharing my syllabus and recommended readings from the “Lies, Damned Lies, and Disinformation” course I taught in the spring semester @Georgetown SSP. I’ll be sharing some highlights from each week’s lesson.
I’ve had some requests for the course syllabus from friends and colleagues and thought this might be a fun way to share it, along with some commentary. I’d love feedback, advice as I plan out next yr’s course. (H/T @LorenRaeDeJ whose sharing throughout the semester inspired me).
May 30, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
1/ A word of caution from me. In addition to wise words from @katestarbird@JaneLytv for individuals in protests movements, journalists covering them, all of us, I wanted to add this: be careful ascribing legitimate domestic societal grievances to foreign actors without proof.
2/ We’re in an emotionally charged place right now, no matter who we are, what we believe. It’s an easy time to confirm our biases, jump to conclusions. Not everything you disagree with is a troll, a bot, a foreign actor. If a research report claims that, vet it. #trustbutverify
