Sopo Gelava

Recent public outcry about depiction of Stalin on an icon in Sameba cathedral contributed to the resurgence of the myth that he was secretly religious - a well-known disinformation with the aim to mobilize Orthodox conservative Georgians.

The Kremlin and its proxies attempted to deflect the “spy antennas” scandal in Moldova Pro-Russian entities attempted to divert attention away from the growing volume of potential intel-gathering equipment on its embassy roof

How many antennas is too many antennas before people start asking questions?

A proliferation of "spy antennas" on Russia's embassy in Moldova has brought pro-Kremlin voices out in droves to deny accusation of spying, and divert attention away from Russia's own activities in Moldova.

Elections everywhere all at once An expert conversation on the implications of the 83 elections occurring in 78 countries in 2024.

🚨 Elections Everywhere All at Once
🗓️ WEDNESDAY, DEC 6 | 3 PM ET / 12 PM PT
🔍 An expert conversation on the implications of the 83 elections occurring in 78 countries in 2024.
👥 @dfrlab.bsky.social, Duco, Anchor Change (@katieharbath.bsky.social), and more!

RSVP here and learn more. See you there!

In Israel-Hamas conflict, social media become tools of propaganda and disinformation Endless flood of false, misleading, and unverified information risks inflaming the conflict

Since Hamas' October 7 attack, there has been an unending torrent of false and unverified information and graphic material online. @dinamsadek.bsky.social and @laylam.bsky.social analyzed popular social platforms finding many Israel and Hamas'-affiliated accounts saw massive jumps in followers:

The Kremlin pushed three main narratives around Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia:
- Pashinyan ceded NK to Azerbaijan, and Russia could do nothing.
- The West is interested in destabilization and putting Armenia on the same track as Ukraine.
- Russia is a peacekeeping force and avoided bloodshed in NK.

The network used inauthentic accounts on FB to promote health disinfo. The profile images of these accounts were AI-generated. We established this by identifying unnatural aspects, such as weird teeth, unusual hair, weird skin, as well as the consistent position of the eyes.

The articles are machine-translated, as they contain significant errors incompatible with Georgian grammar and syntax. By reverse image searching the article’s main image, we found similar articles originally published in Russian.

Examples of FB posts with links directing users to external websites promoting health disinformation and unverified information. Through the content on the external websites, Facebook users were exposed to Avia. ge ads.

The network used well-known tactics such as deploying networks of inauthentic assets and machine-translation of content. The network spread harmful content on health for financial gain and used disinformation as a marketing strategy to promote company sales.

In the five months since war broke out in Sudan,
@dfrlab.bsky.social has identified three influence campaigns on Twitter/ X attempting to promote Hemedti and the Rapid Support Forces.

Brief summary of our findings below 🧵👇 1/9

Wednesday 20 September, The Globalist 3162 - Radio Is the South Caucasus heading for war? Plus: an update on the Sahel region, France and Germany desire a new ‘inner circle’, and we go troll hunting in America…

Check out Monocle's Globalist podcast today to hear from the @dfrlab.bsky.social's Ani Mejlumyan about the latest in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region (conversation starts at 02:00):

Main takeaways
- The network targeted citizens with pro-Kremlin & anti-Western conspiracies that the west wants to drag the country intro war.
- This war-dragging narrative emerged after Russian invasion of Ukraine & Georgia's failed attempt to become a EU candidate country.

Recap of July events:
- Gov't-backed violent groups disrupted the Tbilisi Pride Fest, destroyed and looted the venue.
- Police failed to take action.
- The violence occurred amid a backdrop of escalating homophobic and anti-Western rhetoric from the Georgian Dream ruling party.

Chinese discourse power: Capabilities and impact An examination of China's online and offline channels for the dissemination of "discourse power" and the mechanisms of oversight on which such communications rely.

🚨 🇨🇳  NEW @dfrlab.bsky.social REPORT 🚨 🇨🇳

The latest report in Kenton Thibaut's series on Chinese Discourse Power. In this report, she assesses discourse power through a frame of “media convergence" and the mechanisms of oversight on which such communications rely.

More in thread ⬇

Suspicious network’s copypasta replies to Sudanese paramilitary group’s tweets Network of potentially hijacked Twitter accounts copy and pasted positive replies to accounts associated with Rapid Support Forces in Sudan

A newly discovered network of 200+ active Twitter accounts used copy-pasta content to reply to tweets by accounts associated with Sudan's Rapid Support Forces. The accounts displayed indicators of potential hijacking similar to those seen in a previously discovered network of 900+ accounts.

Pro-Russia actors target Armenia with anti-Ukraine propaganda Suspicious quotes magnified by pro-Russian sources used to undermine Ukraine's reputation in Armenia

"Pro-Russia actors regularly share anti-Ukraine narratives in Armenia... As the Armenian government distances itself from Russia, it is increasingly being targeted with narratives that suggest parallels between it and Ukraine."

Read @dfrlab.bsky.social's latest Russia coverage:

The National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan: A CSI Markup Read CSI's markup of the Implementation Plan for the 2023 US National Cybersecurity Strategy alongside CSI staff, fellows, and experts for commentary on the document and what it means for the Strategy...

On July 13, the White House released the Implementation Plan for the 2023 US National Cybersecurity Strategy. Read along as @cyberstatecraft.bsky.social staff, fellows, and experts dig into the details and explain what the implementation plan means for the Strategy.