NATO StratCom COE Newsletter | #StratCom in a Nutshell: Vol 1/2023

January 12, 2023

NATO StratCom COE Newsletter | #StratCom in a Nutshell: Vol 1/2023

#StratCom in a Nutshell: Vol 1/2023

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Trends in AI from Red and Blue Team Perspectives: Synthetic Data in a Data-Driven Society vs Sentiment Analysis

The aim of this report is to inform the general community of AI practitioners and enthusiasts about the risks (red team perspective) and opportunities (blue team perspective) synthetic data brings to digital content generation which can be used to support the disinformation actors in their activities, including context-based content generation.

Information Laundering via Baltnews on Telegram: How Russian State-Sponsored Media Evade Sanctions and Narrate the War

This study uncovers a specific form of information influence campaigns: Information Laundering (IL) and reveals that apart from increasingly amplifying Kremlin-official media since February 2022, like Sputnik, RT or RIA Novosti, the Baltnews Telegram channel has also increasingly spread cases of IL, by nature a more covert technique of audience manipulation.

A Capability Definition and Assessment Framework for Countering Disinformation, Information Influence, and Foreign Interference

This report proposes a capability assessment framework for countering disinformation, information influence, and foreign interference. At present, much emphasis is placed on the capability to counter disinformation and other associated phenomena. However, few have attempted to systematically define what those countermeasures are, and how they could be placed within a single, coherent capability assessment framework.

#StratComPodcast / S4E1: Information literacy in times of war (with Nika Aleksejeva)

Most likely, it is not the first time that the terms "information literacy" or "digital hygiene" come up. But what do those terms actually mean? Is there a basic skill set we need to acquire to survive this information war? Is there a set of activities each of us can do to protect ourselves from disinformation overflowing social media? And most importantly - can we distinguish pieces of disinformation if we do not really know how it is created? If these questions do bother you, this #StratComPodcast episode aims to clear the air.

The conversation with Nika Aleksejeva, Lead Researcher at the Atlantic Council's DFR Lab and Lead Digital Forensic Researcher at the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence was recorded 3 months after Russia invaded Ukraine. That was also the period when Kremlin was working overtime in attempts to brainwash both domestic and foreign audiences. Nika gives a highly valuable insight into how information war is constructed - from tactics and messages to channels used. And be sure - if you think that Kremlin's propaganda has not reached you yet, you are most likely scrolling through it already. One thing that can make difference here is your ability to recognize malicious activity online and your willingness to spread the word about the damage it does.