Unmasking Influence Operators: What Are Best Practices for Attribution?

program

Technology and International Affairs

The Technology and International Affairs Program develops insights to address the governance challenges and large-scale risks of new technologies. Our experts identify actionable best practices and incentives for industry and government leaders on artificial intelligence, cyber threats, cloud security, countering influence operations, reducing the risk of biotechnologies, and ensuring global digital inclusion.

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project

Partnership for Countering Influence Operations

The goal of the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations (PCIO) is to foster evidence-based policymaking to counter threats in the information environment. Key roadblocks as found in our work include the lack of: transparency reporting to inform what data is available for research purposes; rules guiding how data can be shared with researchers and for what purposes; and an international mechanism for fostering research collaboration at-scale.

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A growing community of researchers are investigating influence operations, but research standards for conducting investigations are not widely shared. This event will explore one of the thorniest investigative challenges - identifying who is behind an influence operation.

Join us for a conversation moderated by BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring featuring Elise Thomas of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, Emerson Brooking of the Atlantic Council's DFRLab, and Olga Belogolova of Facebook on the challenges of attributing influence operations.

event speakers

Marianna Spring
Marianna Spring is the BBC's specialist disinformation and social media reporter. She investigates the impact of online conspiracies and interference campaigns, regularly reporting across TV, radio, and online. Her primary focus is on exposing the real-world consequences of what's happening on the internet.
Elise Thomas
Elise Thomas is an OSINT analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. She also works as a freelance journalist and researcher. Her work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, and others.
Emerson T. Brooking
Emerson T. Brooking is a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Lab of the Atlantic Council and coauthor of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media.
Olga Belogolova
Olga Belogolova is a policy manager for influence operations at Facebook, where she coordinates the company's IO disruptions effort and development of policies to respond to both covert and overt influence. She is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown, where she teaches a course on disinformation and influence in the digital age, leaning on her background as a threat investigator and journalist.

program

Technology and International Affairs

The Technology and International Affairs Program develops insights to address the governance challenges and large-scale risks of new technologies. Our experts identify actionable best practices and incentives for industry and government leaders on artificial intelligence, cyber threats, cloud security, countering influence operations, reducing the risk of biotechnologies, and ensuring global digital inclusion.

Learn More

project

Partnership for Countering Influence Operations

The goal of the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations (PCIO) is to foster evidence-based policymaking to counter threats in the information environment. Key roadblocks as found in our work include the lack of: transparency reporting to inform what data is available for research purposes; rules guiding how data can be shared with researchers and for what purposes; and an international mechanism for fostering research collaboration at-scale.

Learn More

event speakers

Marianna Spring
Marianna Spring is the BBC's specialist disinformation and social media reporter. She investigates the impact of online conspiracies and interference campaigns, regularly reporting across TV, radio, and online. Her primary focus is on exposing the real-world consequences of what's happening on the internet.
Elise Thomas
Elise Thomas is an OSINT analyst with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. She also works as a freelance journalist and researcher. Her work has appeared in Foreign Policy, The Daily Beast, The Guardian, and others.
Emerson T. Brooking
Emerson T. Brooking is a resident senior fellow at the Digital Forensic Lab of the Atlantic Council and coauthor of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media.
Olga Belogolova
Olga Belogolova is a policy manager for influence operations at Facebook, where she coordinates the company's IO disruptions effort and development of policies to respond to both covert and overt influence. She is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown, where she teaches a course on disinformation and influence in the digital age, leaning on her background as a threat investigator and journalist.