The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast

This week, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson discuss the investigation of American citizens working for Russian state media; the potential of 'Green Cicada,' a newly identified AI-enabled network on X, to achieve strategic surprise in the information-space; legal and financial consequences for those using synthetic media in campaigns; Russia's likely use of "gendered disinformation" in the 2024 U.S. campaign; and the surrender of social media companies who were expected to police disinformation on their networks themselves while one of their owners uses his platform to stoke violent riots in a key NATO ally.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Special guest David Klepper, the intelligence reporter on the national security team for the Associate Press, joins Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson to discuss his recent reporting. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently briefed reporters on the actions of Russia, China, and Iran in the run up to the 2024 elections.  Each has an interest--but each is approaching the election in their own way.  In Russia's case, that includes the use of unwitting Americans to spread divisive messages. And as the Olympic flame fades, Klepper discusses the ways Russia has sought to sew division in the shadow of the Paris Olympics.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week in the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson unpack why democratic elections continue to be the playground of autocratic malign influence; highlight the ODNI's recent assessment of threats to U.S. election security; examine Russia's hand in Venezuela's contested election, the far-right riots in the UK, and Israeli politics; and they take one last look (for now, at least) at how China sought to capitalize on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, Mark Jacobson and Jim Ludes discuss a strategy--seemingly inspired by the film "The Untouchables"--to counter Russia's hybrid attacks on the West. They then move on to the dynamic environment around the Olympics; the latest in efforts to counter the Doppelganger campaign; Russia's efforts to target Moldova's upcoming election; and efforts in Canada and across NATO to fight back more effectively. Companion podcast to the Active Measures Newsletter No. 293.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson discuss two weeks of heavy news: leaked plans documenting Russia's propaganda campaign against the West; the way Russian sources depicted the 75th Anniversary NATO summit; a U.S. Department of Justice take down of nearly 1,000 sock-puppet accounts on social media; and the way the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was spun, both internationally and domestically.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NATO leaders meet in Washington this week to mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance amidst as hostile an information environment as the alliance has ever known. We break down what's at stake at the summit, recent reports of Russian efforts to target French elections and the up-coming Olympics, evidence of disinformation in the UK election, and what health-related misinformation teaches us about the need for institutional integrity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, we discuss explosive reporting from Reuters on a secret U.S. campaign in the Philippines to undermine the Chinese vaccine at the height of the COVID pandemic. We then turn to reporting from David Adam in Nature on the way bad information influences elections--it doesn't necessarily change opinions, but it might change behaviors.  Finally, Dr. Joshua Foust of Syracuse University joins us to discuss U.S. government efforts to use video games to counter disinformation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Across Europe, officials are tracking a spate of suspected sabotage--from GPS jamming in the Baltic to attacks on public infrastructure in Czechia--attacks believed to tie back to Russia. Meanwhile, a senior U.S. diplomat warns that most Americans don't appreciate just how much foreign disinformation they're consuming in their social media even while one of America's elite university's shuts down its Internet observatory--designed to study and educate about the threat.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Influence campaigns come in a lot of shapes and sizes.  On the Korean peninsula, the back and forth between Soul and Pyongyang sees the North launching garbage balloons and the South responding with K-Pop.  In Europe--awash in Russian disinformation as voters cast ballots to shape the European Parliament--the methods of influence are both old and novel.  Ultimately, the center in European politics held, this time, but the far right saw substantial gains moving French President Manuel Macron to call for new National Assembly elections in a matter of weeks. Ultimately we're left to ponder whether influence campaigns and disinformation work.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The leaders of U.S. influence operations met at a conference in Florida recently and concluded the United States is not performing well in the face of Russian and Chinese efforts. Patrick Tucker, the science and technology editor at Defense One, discusses his reporting on that conclusion and the reasons why succeeding in this fight doesn't get the investment it deserves. We also review reporting on a former Florida sheriff's deputy now running a disinformation network with at least 160 fake news sites from Moscow and the latest reporting from OpenAI on state-use of their platform by Russia, China, Iran, and Israel.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.