Peter Benzoni

Who’s Reusing Russian State Media’s Images? Introduction  Threat actors increasingly operate across national boundaries, but information-operation detection rarely extends beyond single-language analysis, leaving blind spots in multilingual and...

Russia's influence campaigns don't only rely on words.

📷 Images cross borders quickly and shape narratives that cannot be captured in single-language text alone, @benzoni.bsky.social shows. ⤵️

securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/whos-reusing...

Thinning the ICE: Russian and Chinese Messaging on the Los Angeles Protests Since the protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles began last weekend, false and misleading information about the ongoing demonstrations and the Trump administration’s crackdown have proliferate...

Since the anti-ICE protests in LA began last week, false and misleading information has proliferated online.

Foreign adversaries like Russia seized on the unrest to promote conspiracies and narratives aimed at sowing chaos and undermining the US. 🧵

Thinning the ICE: Russian and Chinese Messaging on the Los Angeles Protests Introduction Since the protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles began last weekend, false and misleading information about the ongoing demonstrations and the Trump administration’s crackdown hav...

State-affiliated Russian media painted LA as a “war zone,” amplified debunked “civil war” narratives, slandered Democrats, mocked “peaceful” protestors, and lauded Trump’s tough crackdown—an unmistakable nod to Moscow’s own authoritarian playbook.

securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/thinning-the...

Thinning the ICE: Russian and Chinese Messaging on the Los Angeles Protests Introduction Since the protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles began last weekend, false and misleading information about the ongoing demonstrations and the Trump administration’s crackdown hav...

🇷🇺🇨🇳 Russian and Chinese influence actors seized on the anti-ICE protests in LA to promote conspiracies and narratives aimed at sowing chaos and denigrating the US, @krysiasikora.bsky.social , @etiennesoula.bsky.social , & @benzoni.bsky.social write in ASD’s new analysis. ⤵️

New Proxy, Same as the Old Proxy: Key Sites of Russia’s Covert Influence in Poland Poland was one of the first countries to take steps to curb Russian propaganda in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Days after the invasion, Poland’s broadcasting regulator banned f...

Russia's information tactics in Poland have evolved.

Overt channels like RT and Sputnik are banned, but the Kremlin now leverages covert proxies to infiltrate Polish media, @benzoni.bsky.social @doroshishka.bsky.social & @krysiasikora.bsky.social write ⬇️
securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/new-proxy-sa...

Washington Silences Its Own Voice

📻 A White House-ordered shutdown of US Agency for Global Media aids authoritarian interference & diminishes America's power, write GMF's @nanagongadze.bsky.social & Bret Schafer of @securedemocracy.bsky.social.

🔗 Read their insight on how supporters should respond: www.gmfus.org/news/washing...

What can Venezuela's TeleSUR reposting a listicle from Xinhua tell us about how propaganda spreads in Latin America? Watch or read below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

www.gmfus.org/news/media-v...

YouTube video by The German Marshall Fund of the United States What Is Media Vassalage? Peter Benzoni Explains

⁉️ What is “media vassalage”? @securedemocracy.bsky.social's @benzoni.bsky.social explains in this video.

🗣️ According to the expert, Venezuelan media amplifies Russian, Chinese, and other authoritarian narratives in Latin America, further eroding democracy.

↘️ Learn more: bit.ly/3XwxdH1

I've decided to collect these

A running list of career ending actions here:

1) discussing military operations (including classified info) on a consumer messaging app.

2) likely discussing military ops (including classified info) *on personal devices* (as signal is not allowed on USG phones)

3) adding a journalist to said chat

Media Vassalage: How Venezuela’s TeleSUR Acts as Russia and China’s Information-Laundering Front After a contested July presidential election in which Nicolás Maduro claimed victory with 51% of the vote—amid allegations of irregularities, limited oversight, and too few international observers—Ven...

🇻🇪 Through information laundering, Venezuela’s premier state media outlet, TeleSUR, amplifies narratives from Russian and Chinese state media.

🔗 A new analysis by @benzoni.bsky.social from the Alliance for Securing Democracy at GMF examines TeleSUR's “media vassalage" dynamic: bit.ly/3DDh0sH

Thank you so much @nosumacero.bsky.social! Your writing on cross regional authoritarian collaboration was a HUGE influence/inspiration for this piece (and on the concept of media vassalage in general) ❤️❤️❤️

Media Vassalage: How Venezuela’s TeleSUR Acts as Russia and China’s Information-Laundering Front After a contested July presidential election in which Nicolás Maduro claimed victory with 51% of the vote—amid allegations of irregularities, limited oversight, and too few international observers—Ven...

This is media vassalage: Maduro leverages TeleSUR to gain crucial diplomatic support, sacrificing journalistic independence and autonomy to Moscow and Beijing's geopolitical ambitions.

Read our full investigation here: securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/media-vassal...

TeleSUR doesn’t just consume propaganda—it redistributes it. Cuban and Nicaraguan outlets regularly copy TeleSUR content verbatim, forming a layered, patron-client ecosystem across Latin America.

This sometimes gets quite literal: On January 2, homepage featured Xinhua’s annual news roundup—showcasing Chinese narratives as mainstream news.

TeleSUR Spanish cites Russian sources (RT, Sputnik, TASS) over 3,200 times. Headlines frequently mirror Russian narratives, especially on Ukraine and BRICS summits, portraying Russia as a global stability anchor.

Nearly 10% of TeleSUR English content directly cites Chinese state media like Xinhua. TeleSUR’s “Route to China” opinion section literally publishes articles authored by Xinhua without edits—what we call "media vassalage" in action.

We (ASD) analyzed TeleSUR’s entire 2024 archive—over 21,000 articles—and discovered extensive information laundering. Here's what our data revealed, a thread:

The State(s) of Foreign Information Operations This report outlines an example of a foreign information operation targeting each of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia. This report outlines an example of a foreign information operation t...

US foreign adversaries know that state and local governments and communities are foundational to US democracy.

In Bret Schafer and my new report for @gmfus.bsky.social, we explore how foreign actors target Americans at the local level with examples from all 50 states and DC. 🧵

What is TV BRICS? The Sanctions-Linked, Russia-Backed Influence Broker What is TV BRICS? The Sanctions-Linked, Russia-Backed Influence Broker

Really proud of this one—I show how TV BRICS, a seemingly innocuous public diplomacy outlet is linked to sanctioned entities launched at the behest of Vladimir Putin. TV BRICS facilitates interstate influence through a network of partnerships across BRICS+ securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/what-is-tv-b...

Pinkerton X Black Bloc fashion collab 2025

A good community (for you) has a place for you; a great community is willing to work to make a place for you

The point of the panopticon was never that you're always being watched, (you aren't) it's to force you to behave as though you are

District of Caesar