MOSCOW TAKES AIM AT "CHILDFREE PROPAGANDA"...
For decades, Russia has struggled with demographic decline, and that situation has been exacerbated in recent years by a massive population outflow stemming from Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" against neighboring Ukraine. In response, the Russian government has been exploring novel ways to spur childbirth, with the latest effort focusing on the informational front. In early November, the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, passed amendments modifying six existing laws – with the aim of restricting material that "promotes a conscious refusal to have children." The new measures include, among other things, bans on websites that carry content that "advocates against childbearing," and regulations preventing the licensing of movies containing "childfree propaganda." (Meduza, November 11, 2024)
...AND WORKS TO ISOLATE ITS INTERNET
Russia's state censor, meanwhile, is continuing to explore how to wall off the country's internet from the World-Wide Web. According to a new letter sent by the Russian Central Bank to its affiliated companies, ROSKOMNADZOR will soon once again carry out "routine" tests to gauge the feasibility of limiting "certain regions" of the country from accessing foreign websites and data providers. Such tests have been held at least three times before, in 2019, 2021, and 2023, under the country's so-called "sovereign internet" law. That law stipulates that isolation drills relating to the Russian internet, colloquially referred to as RuNet, must occur at least once a year. (Meduza, November 16, 2024)
[EDITORS' NOTE: ROSKOMNADZOR has claimed that the purpose of the tests is to ensure access to the RuNet is preserved in the event of "deliberate external interference" – ostensibly stemming from Russia's ongoing hostilities with the West as a result of its war in Ukraine. However, the drills reflect a broader strategy of internet and information manipulation on the part of the Kremlin. Back in 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin created an interdepartmental commission to oversee the country's technological sovereignty. That body, led by former president Dmitry Medvedev, is tasked with the "import substitution of critical information infrastructure."]
CHINA'S SPY AGENCY WADES INTO THE MEDIA FIGHT...
China's Ministry of State Security (MSS), which already boasts sweeping powers relating to intelligence collection, is becoming more powerful still. The secretive agency is now said to be conducting increasingly sophisticated attacks and social campaigns targeting the United States. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal reports, the head of the MSS, Chen Yixin, is pushing the organization's capabilities onto social media for the first time. The Ministry's new social media campaigns reflect Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping's broader definition of national security to include cognitive warfare. "The internet is the new battlefield, and new media is the new combat power," Chen has said. (Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2024)
...AS GOOGLE FIGHTS CHINESE FAKE NEWS
Information and search colossus Google has a Chinese propaganda problem. According to The Record, the company’s security team "has removed hundreds of news sites and domains from Google News for running pro-China content." That content is "sourced back to a handful of companies allegedly working together as part of an influence operation." Google has said that the companies, which are part of a consortium known as GLASSBRIDGE, have been pushing content in a "highly coordinated manner," with "consistency in content, behavioral similarities, connections across firms, and pro-PRC messaging."
"The inauthentic news sites operated by GLASSBRIDGE illustrate how information operations actors have embraced methods beyond social media in an attempt to spread their narratives," Google has stated. "By posing as independent, and often local news outlets, [these] actors are able to tailor their content to specific regional audiences and present their narratives as seemingly legitimate news and editorial content." Since 2022, more than 1,000 GLASSBRIDGE sites have been blocked by the company from Google News and Google Discover. (The Record, November 22, 2024)
IRAN'S LATEST PROPAGANDA OFFENSIVE, EXPOSED
A new analysis from one of Washington's leading think tanks has highlighted the information warfare activities of Emmenet Pasargad, a cyber threat actor linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. "Emennet Pasargad, which now operates under the company name Aria Sepehr Ayandehsazan (ASA), is one of Iran's most tenacious threat actors, having conducted multiple prominent cyber and influence operations in support of numerous malign actors, including Hamas," the policy brief, published by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), lays out. Activities tied to ASA include releasing the private information of Israeli Olympians, attempting to incite Muslim mass protests in Sweden, and interfering in the recent U.S. presidential election. These activities led the FBI, the U.S. Treasury Department and Israel's National Cyber Directorate to put out a joint cybersecurity advisory about the group on October 30th.
That warning also showcased the evolving nature of Iranian influence operations, the FDD analysis notes: "ASA had previously conducted hack-and-leak operations primarily to steal and then publicize sensitive information, thereby causing psychological, reputational, and financial harm. Now ASA uses commercially available artificial intelligence tools to generate and enhance images and audio for its operations. Among other tactics, the advisory details how ASA creates front companies to purchase web hosting services from unsuspecting foreign companies. ASA then uses some of the infrastructure for its own cyber and influence operations. The group provides the rest to other Iranian terrorist proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah." (FDD, November 8, 2024)
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