Place Branding and Public Diplomacy

Assessing the risks and opportunities posed by AI-enhanced influence operations on social media

Large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 have the potential to dramatically change the landscape of influence operations. They can generate persuasive, tailored content at scale, making campaigns using falsified content, such as disinformation and fake accounts, easier to produce. This article examines the heightened threats posed by synthetic media, as well as the potential that these tools hold for creating effective countermeasures.

NATO StratCom COE

Verified Propagandists and the Hamas-Israel War

Virtual Manipulation Brief 2023/2

In this issue of the Virtual Manipulation Brief, we identified 117 pro-Kremlin accounts—including notorious Z bloggers—who purchased verified status on X. This meant they could monetise fake news through X’s ad revenue-sharing feature. It also boosted their visibility – the newly verified propaganda accounts received more than twice as many views per post, on average.

Lund University Psychological Defence Research Institute

Denying Bucha

The Kremlin’s influence tactics in the aftermath of the 2022 Bucha atrocity

This report analyses Russian information influence tactics on social media platforms following the atrocities committed by Russian troops in Bucha in March 2022. The analysis focuses on the Bucha massacre as a significant news event to demonstrate how the Kremlin conducts propaganda designed to mislead domestic and international publics about war atrocities.

NATO StratCom COE

Generative AI and its Implications for Social Media Analysis

Virtual Manipulation Brief 2023/1

In this issue of the Virtual Manipulation Brief, we identified 117 pro-Kremlin accounts—including notorious Z bloggers—who purchased verified status on X. This meant they could monetise fake news through X’s ad revenue-sharing feature. It also boosted their visibility – the newly verified propaganda accounts received more than twice as many views per post, on average.

NATO StratCom COE

Social Media Manipulation 2022/2023

Assessing the Ability of Social Media Companies to Combat Platform Manipulation

The fourth version of NATO StratCom COE's social media manipulation experiment shows that social media companies continue to struggle to prevent commercial manipulators from undermining platform integrity. None of the platforms have improved since 2021, and when considered collectively, their ability to prevent manipulation has decreased.

NATO StratCom COE

Russia's Struggle to Circumvent Sanctions and Communicate its War Against Ukraine

Virtual Manipulation Brief 1

The Virtual Manipulation Brief's inaugural issue explores the transformation of the Russian language conversation after the invasion of Ukraine. Drawing on NATO StratCom COE's research on the manipulative tactics of Russian bots and trolls on social media, this report expands the scope beyond NATO to include Russia's war against Ukraine. It examines the use of various social media platforms to spread disinformation.