Disinfo Docket 9 September

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Highlights

1. Russia Today, YouTube, and the US Department of Justice: How an online web of Russian disinformation crumbled (ABC, 5 September)
2. Tenet Media posts still online, despite U.S. claims of Russian influence campaign (Reuters, 6 September)
3. US, EU, UK, and others sign legally enforceable AI treaty / The global treaty lays out a set of principles that signatories commit to enforcing. (The Verge, 5 September)
4. China Courts Taiwanese Influencers to Enhance Xinjiang Image (DevDiscourse, 5 September)

1. Academia & Research

1. Iranian IO Domains - Sneak Peek (Memetic Warfare, 6 September)
2. Baiting the bot: LLM chatbots can be engaged in endless "conversations" by considerably simpler text generation bots. This has some interesting implications. (Conspirator Norteño, 8 September)

2. Platforms & Technology

1. The hate speech landscape on Facebook is worse than you thought. Here's why (Fast Company, 31 August)
2. AI and deepfakes might actually save American democracy from itself (The Hill, 6 September)
3. How Telegram Became a Playground for Criminals, Extremists and Terrorists (NYT, 7 September)
4. Meredith Whittaker of Signal, disinformation expert Camille François to speak at Social Good Summit 2024 (Rappler, 7 September)
5. Australia: Social media companies to face fines for allowing children under 14 on their platforms under proposed SA laws (ABC, 8 September)

TikTok 

1. The biggest political news brands on TikTok aren’t who you think they are (FWIW, 6 September)

X (Twitter)

1. X global affairs head Nick Pickles resigns (Reuters, 6 September)
2. What you need to know about the X (formerly Twitter) situation in Brazil (Global Voices, 7 September)
   1. After Brazil's X ban, what social media alternatives exist? (DW, 8 September)
3. Elon Musk vs The Defender of Democracy (Coda Story, 6 September)
4. Twitter ‘ceased to exist’ after Australia’s eSafety commissioner demanded answers about child sex abuse material, X’s lawyer argues (Guardian, 9 September)
5. Deluge of abuse sent on X to prominent UK politicians in election period (Guardian, 9 September)

3. Russia & Ukraine

1. Russia Secretly Worms Its Way Into America’s Conservative Media (NYT, 7 September)
2. YouTube removes Tenet Media channel over alleged ties to Russian disinformation effort (Recorded Future, 6 September)
3. Justice Department says Russian disinformation campaign targeted Israel and US Jews (Post, 6 September)
4. How some of the biggest right-wing social media stars became unwitting mouthpieces of Russian propaganda (CNN, 7 September)
5. Why the Kremlin Loves Social Media (Politico, 7 September)
6. Five disinformation tactics Russia is using to try to influence the US election (The Conversation, 6 September)
7. Russia throttles YouTube, popular with kids, celebrities and dissidents (Washington Post, 8 September)