Election Interference
Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election is just the tip of the iceberg. Fair elections with credible, honored results are a cornerstone of democratic ideals. Around the world, those elections are under threat from rival states and international networks of ideologically motivated radicals. We focus on cross-border, coordinated disinformation campaigns aimed at influencing voters or casting doubt on the electoral process.
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Television was pivotal in bringing John Fitzgerald Kennedy to the American presidency in 1961. The candidate was charismatic, and his campaign was intelligent in how it exploited the nascent medium. But television did not merely amplify his existing characteristics, it markedly changed the tactics necessary to prevail in an election; that change in tactics entailed […]
By Dipayan Ghosh
Since last week, a network of Twitter bot accounts has been spreading confusion about the events surrounding Bolivian President Evo Morales’ abrupt resignation. The messages, which appear in English and Spanish, all carry the exact same text, beginning with the words, “Friends from everywhere, in Bolivia there was no coup.” Initial iterations of the tweet […]
By Zoe Schiffer
Today the Stanford Internet Observatory published a white paper on GRU online influence operations from 2014 to 2019. The authors conducted this research at the request of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and began with a data set consisting of social media posts provided to the Committee by Facebook. Facebook attributed […]
By Stanford Internet Observatory
The campaign for Sri Lanka’s November 16 presidential election ended on Wednesday, but voters are concerned about an apparent spike in fake news on social media, and its possible impact over the next two days. As candidates made their final pitch, some of their supporters unleashed unambiguously racist posts and fake news-based attacks online — […]
By Meera Srinivasan
The scourge of disinformation associated with the 2016 election was just the tip of the iceberg compared to what we’ll see in 2020, panelists predicted at a Johns Hopkins University forum on Tuesday. “It’s going to be a complete mess this election cycle,” Politico reporter Nancy Scola said of the social media forces at play […]
By Katie Pearce
Television was pivotal in bringing John Fitzgerald Kennedy to the American presidency in 1961. The candidate was charismatic, and his campaign was intelligent in how it exploited the nascent medium. But television did not merely amplify his existing characteristics, it markedly changed the tactics necessary to prevail in an election; that change in tactics entailed […]
By Dipayan Ghosh Since last week, a network of Twitter bot accounts has been spreading confusion about the events surrounding Bolivian President Evo Morales’ abrupt resignation. The messages, which appear in English and Spanish, all carry the exact same text, beginning with the words, “Friends from everywhere, in Bolivia there was no coup.” Initial iterations of the tweet […]
By Zoe SchifferToday the Stanford Internet Observatory published a white paper on GRU online influence operations from 2014 to 2019. The authors conducted this research at the request of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and began with a data set consisting of social media posts provided to the Committee by Facebook. Facebook attributed […]
By Stanford Internet ObservatoryThe campaign for Sri Lanka’s November 16 presidential election ended on Wednesday, but voters are concerned about an apparent spike in fake news on social media, and its possible impact over the next two days. As candidates made their final pitch, some of their supporters unleashed unambiguously racist posts and fake news-based attacks online — […]
By Meera SrinivasanThe scourge of disinformation associated with the 2016 election was just the tip of the iceberg compared to what we’ll see in 2020, panelists predicted at a Johns Hopkins University forum on Tuesday. “It’s going to be a complete mess this election cycle,” Politico reporter Nancy Scola said of the social media forces at play […]
By Katie Pearce 
November 19, 2019