It's out! The full "Handbook on Authoritarianism in the Arab World" is available open access here: www.bloomsburycollections.com/encyclopedia...

With Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan winning re-election, read our latest on how Russia applied its Moldova playbook to interfere in the Armenia race dfrlab.org/2026/06/05/f...

Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group issues rare warning that China is using Linkedin to target military officers, spies for secret information www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/0...

“Everything is part of a struggle for narrative control of this war. Nuance be damned.” www.zocalopublicsquare.org/iranians-inf...

Applications are now open for @dfrlab.bsky.social's Digital Sherlocks 2026 program🕵️‍♀️ Join a global cohort learning how to investigate online information, track influence operations, and strengthen information integrity. 🗓 Apply by April 14 🔗 form.jotform.com/260633500818...

Why do I have to pretend that I'm going to print something in order to save it as a PDF. Why do I have to engage in a little ruse.

“Using social media has ruined my self-esteem and my relation to being a girl in this world” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Top Democratic officials who worked on the party's still-secret autopsy of the 2024 election concluded that Kamala Harris lost significant support because of the Biden administration's approach to the war in Gaza, Axios has learned.

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI considered alerting Canadian police about school shooting suspect months ago apnews.com/article/open...

I discussed Iran’s internet blackout with the New York Times. The information void is actively being filled with influence ops from Iran’s adversaries and allies. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/b... @dfrlab.bsky.social

RFE/RL, which has sued Kari Lake to block her termination of its federal funding grants, resumes shortwave radio broadcasts into Iran following the imposition of an internet blackout by the Islamic Republic. about.rferl.org/article/radio...

Spoke to the Washington Post for this article about @dfrlab.bsky.social’s research into the online chaos that followed Maduro’s capture.

Malaysia and Indonesia become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI, after authorities said it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and non-consensual images.

An image that captures what’s happening in Iran: a female protester raises a ripped down surveillance camera. Photo via the Hengaw Organisation for Human Rights.

Twitter‘s solution to making CSAM for free is to make CSAM for profit.

Internet traffc in Iran dropped to effectively zero as of 18:45 UTC (22:15 PM local time) on 1/8, signaling a complete shutdown in the country, and disconnection from the global internet -Cloudfare radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/ir?d... www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...

Copy Editing Matters, from HHS's release on the new childhood vaccine schedule: All the diseases will still be available to anyone who wants them

Russia sanctions 28 Canadians. The list largely targets researchers, many from HREC (holodomor.ca), plus @socialmedialab.ca. A clear sign these organizations are doing excellent work that should be protected and supported. news.zerkalo.io/world/117383...

Many are just waking up to the Grok-nonconsensual images story as these pictures began flooding X over the holidays, but here’s our piece from Jan 2 featuring a victim, Julie Yukari, who was brave enough to speak on the record and on camera: www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...

Genuinely find this upsetting to watch. It’s the live and mass violation of women for daring to exist outside the narrow confines of a controlled and sexualised plaything for men

Reuters natsec reporter Phil Stewart: "Venezuela orders police to find, arrest anyone involved in supporting U.S. attack-decree"

It is an inalienable tenet of modern life that disinformation, much of it now AI-generated, will spread in the wake of breaking news events www.wired.com/story/disinf...

The DFRLab has long tracked the digital means that aided in Venezuela's descent into autocracy. As Venezuela enters a pivotal moment, it is worth revisiting how Maduro weaponized digital tools. See 2024 report: "Venezuela: A Playbook for Digital Repression” www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...

The DFRLab has long tracked the digital means that aided in Venezuela's descent into autocracy. As Venezuela enters a pivotal moment, it is worth revisiting how Maduro weaponized digital tools. See 2024 report: "Venezuela: A Playbook for Digital Repression” www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...

Colin and Sophie Hortman, the children of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, are asking Trump to remove the false posts about their parents' killing:

I am honoured to announce I’ve been appointed as a member to the Order of Canada. Thank you to everyone for the support! I dedicate this to my late Mom who taught me so much about history, local independent media & research. I know that she would be, like me, screaming with joy! #orderofcanada

It has been a year of challenges and turbulence, but the work continues. dfrlab.org/2025/12/31/t...

Exclusive: Internal documents reveal Meta pursued a yearslong strategy to bring more teens to Instagram even after critics said it wasn’t safe.

Good article, but I think we could add that many of the current government officials & influencers spreading political point-scoring falsehoods during crisis events HAVE BECOME gov officials & influencers BECAUSE of their bullshit-spreading talents. System effects of rotten attention dynamics.

NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Mustapha Kharbouch, the Palestinian student who was falsely accused last week of being the Brown University shooter by various racists and conspiracy theorists.

Join us today @ 8:30 AM ET | 2:30 PM CET for key lessons from Moldova’s 2025 elections w/ DFRLab's @buziashvili.bsky.social @victoriaolari.bsky.social & @laylam.bsky.social bit.ly/49cY1lG

#Belarus: RSF reveals the existence of a previously unknown spyware tool, used since at least 2021 by the KGB against journalists. Installed after the physical confiscation of phones, #ResidentBat constitutes a grave violation of press freedom. RSF calls for a ban on these surveillance technologies.

I’ll be moderating this discussion on Wednesday on lessons from Moldova’s elections. Anyone who cares about information or election integrity should be closing watching what is unfolding in Moldova.

I’ll be moderating this discussion on Wednesday on lessons from Moldova’s elections. Anyone who cares about information or election integrity should be closing watching what is unfolding in Moldova.

"A.I.s end up collapsing into drivel quite a lot. They somehow manage to be both predictable and nonsensical at the same time." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m...

“1 in 10 Canadian Security Intelligence Service investigations now involve at least one extremist under age 18, the agency’s director said on Nov. 13.” globalnews.ca/news/1154264...

And this is why we need data transparency from platforms. www.thedailybeast.com/top-maga-inf...

Meta halted internal research that purportedly showed (young) people who stopped using Facebook became less depressed and anxious, according to an unredacted legal filing released on Friday. www.cnbc.com/2025/11/23/m...

New report! 49 African countries now use biometric systems, but weak governance, heavy reliance on foreign vendors, and limited transparency risk exclusion and surveillance. www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-res...

Several journalists resigned this week from three newspapers in Alaska after the publications’ corporate owner made significant edits to an article about Charlie Kirk’s death, after pressure from a Republican state lawmaker who had criticized the coverage.

Apple removes ICE tracking apps after pressure by Trump administration reut.rs/4mIfztt

I spoke to parents who are letting their young kids play with generative AI and tried to sort through some of the questions they have about it. "I don’t know what this is doing to their brains," one dad told me. Meanwhile, Sam Altman says, "Kids love ChatGPT on voicemode."

Update from @freedomflotilla.bsky.social states the Mikeno came within 7nm of Gaza before being intercepted

The federal government has updated its travel advisory to the U.S. with a warning that people who have the gender-neutral “X” identifier on their passports may face restrictions when crossing the southern border.

The Flotilla ship Mikeno has gone dark, its current status is unknown. But it is reportedly the first civilian vessel to successfully enter Gaza’s territorial waters. www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/...

Yep. LLM poisoning is the next stage of info ops.

A huge communications blackout has hit Afghanistan after Taliban authorities began severing fibre-optic connections in several provinces to prevent “vice” www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

My takeaway from the Klein-Coates conversation is that Klein repeatedly brushes past the central issue that Coates keeps returning to, which is that "hate is a powerful force." It's a question of when and how to engage with hateful rhetoric.