MESSAGING TARGET: MAGA
According to a new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), Russia and Iran are deploying social media bots to target the conservative "Make America Great Again" movement. Leveraging a "disinformation bot army," America's adversaries are using inauthentic accounts to promote real-life influencers who post untrue "false flag" narratives, amplifying conspiratorial plots designed to discredit President Donald Trump's leadership and "destabilize the right from within." As Kremlin-affiliated propagandists and Iranian state-linked media continue to spread extreme content, these bots lend popularity and artificial legitimacy to the posts by masquerading as MAGA loyalists, republishing the content, and injecting them into MAGA-branded spaces. (New York Post, June 19, 2025))
AN ASSAULT ON RUSSIAN FILMMAKING
The Kremlin's assault on the media, and its increasingly pervasive censorship regime, is now targeting a new medium: filmmaking. As part of a new law that will take effect on March 1, 2026, any film that discredits or promotes the rejection of "traditional Russian spiritual and moral values" will be denied distribution licenses within the country. Under the legislation, Russia's Culture Ministry now has the authority to revise existing licenses, including adding restrictions on a film's circulation among underage viewers. Social media platforms will also be required to monitor content that challenge traditional values, and online streaming platforms will be expected to stop showing a film within 24 hours of a film's license being revoked. (Meduza, July 22, 2025)
THE MIND BATTLE WITH CHINA
As geopolitical tensions continue to rise with the United States, China's military is relying more and more heavily on cognitive warfare, a new Senate Armed Services Committee report has warned. From developing "brain control" technologies to conducting sophisticated information warfare operations, it lays out, the People's Liberation Army is leveraging neuroscience and psychology to attack U.S. decision-making abilities. Chinese information warfare is now embedded in both the country's military and civilian sectors to spread disinformation, disrupt U.S. military and political strategic planning, and deepen societal polarization by using manipulative strategies such as AI-powered deepfake videos and advanced voice synthesis tools.
China, it notes, "is actively engaged in developing what it terms 'informatized warfare' and 'intelligentized warfare,' with a strong emphasis on cognitive domain operations, involving the integration of information warfare across military and civilian sectors and viewing information as a critical domain for achieving strategic advantage in great power competition."
America's response to this activity is not sufficient, the study assesses. The Pentagon still lacks the "strategic clarity" to confront this growing psychological threat, it details. As a result, the study – part of the committee's work on the upcoming FY2026 defense authorization – urges Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to generate a report for Congress on the subject of cognitive warfare, to include clarifying the definition of information warfare and determining which Pentagon offices and branches will be responsible for conducting cognitive operations. (Washington Times, July 23, 2025)
THE COST OF IRANIAN CONNECTIVITY
Just two months after imposing a sweeping thirteen-day internet blackout across large parts of the country during the recent conflict with Israel, the Iranian regime is expanding its focus on digital governance. With social media now a hotbed for public dissent, the regime's strategy for consolidating power has focused on severing internet connectivity for the country's captive population. After many Iranian social media users had their phone SIM cards disconnected, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that regaining access appears to require political fealty to the Islamic Republic – manifested by mandating that users post content praising the regime and sign pledges not to criticize the state.
The country's Cybercrime Prosecution Office has claimed that these new requirements and restrictions are intended to target individuals whose engage in "hostile and malicious activities on social media... contrary to the country's laws and interests." But all signs point to the fact that, in the aftermath of the "twelve day war" with Israel, curbing the digital freedom of Iranians is increasingly a top regime priority. (Iran International, July 29, 2025)
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