How Russia Covered Election 2020’s “October Surprise”
Russian media outlets favored sensationalized reporting on the alleged scandals surrounding Hunter Biden throughout 2020 and the responses by the American press and Big Tech to those stories.
A Nation Must Think Before it Acts
How Russia Covered Election 2020’s “October Surprise”
A nation must think before it acts.
Election integrity
Russia’s Use of Domestic Disinformation Isn’t Stopping Post-Election Day
Election Day has come and gone, but Americans still face a barrage of mis- and disinformation aimed at discrediting the 2020 election and its legitimacy.
Foreign State-Sponsored Narratives on Mail-in Voting and Social Media Reach
With Election Day tomorrow, coverage of mail-in voting from state-backed outlets has only increased, aiming to denigrate trust in American institutions as well as the electoral process as a whole.
Foreign Influence and the 2020 Election: What We’ve Seen and What’s to Come
The lead-up to Election Day in 2020 has had many twists and turns. Throughout the past year, however, we’ve seen a steady drumbeat of disinformation from foreign actors who continue to try and interfere in U.S. elections, their goals evident through the themes and narratives they promote on their state-backed media outlets.
Moscow’s War on Silicon Valley: Information Integrity and the 2020 Election
Four years ago, Russian state-sponsored disinformation operations weaponized “Big Tech” platforms as tools to attempt to manipulate the outcome of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In 2020, however, Kremlin-backed media outlets have turned against “Big Tech” itself.
Russia, Iran and China’s Candidate Preferences Before Election Day 2020
Preferences for one candidate or the other in 2020 have been critical to understanding any foreign interference efforts in the lead-up to November—and for understanding potential influence efforts post-Election Day.
Kremlin Outlets on the First Presidential Debate: Highlighting Chaos and Denigrating Biden
The first U.S. 2020 presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden was filled with shouting, interruption and general on-stage chaos. RT and Sputnik News took the opportunity to highlight it as such.
China’s Election Coverage Has Increased—But It Still Doesn’t Match Russia’s
China may be a larger influence concern for the U.S. in 2021 and in the longer term, but Russia’s overt content points to a larger effort to influence the vote in November.
Kremlin Media Coverage of the RNC and DNC
Amid the 2020 Democratic and Republican National Conventions, Russian state-sponsored news outlets RT and Sputnik News published a number of stories and opinion pieces covering both conventions. RT portrayed the DNC and former Vice President Biden especially negatively, while Sputnik News coverage was more mixed.
As November Nears, Election Coverage Increases in Foreign State-Sponsored Outlets
With Election Day just roughly three months out, the 2020 race has seen renewed attention in RT, Sputnik News, PressTV and the Global Times.