EU to collectively invest in defence capabilities and innovative technologies | Influencers in the middle of information battle | Chinese propaganda is backing Russian disinformation narratives
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EU leaders have announced their intention to collectively rearm and become autonomous in food, energy and military hardware in a Versailles declaration that described Russia’s war as “a tectonic shift in European history.” The leaders agreed to “invest more and better in defence capabilities and innovative technologies” by substantially increasing defence expenditures and through tighter cooperation and coordination of their armed forces and procurement. The Guardian
The White House and the Kremlin both seek to sway opinion using creators with large social-media followings. The Wall Street Journal
Chinese state media appears to be doubling down on Russian messaging and disinformation, based on data from our War in Ukraine and Hamilton 2.0 dashboards. Alliance for Securing Democracy
ASPI ICPC
Ukraine - Russia
TikTok Influencers Get Spotlight in Information Battle Over the Russia-Ukraine War
The Wall Street Journal
Sarah E. Needleman and Deepa Seetharaman
The White House and the Kremlin both seek to sway opinion using creators with large social-media followings.
The White House is briefing TikTok stars about the war in Ukraine
The Washington Post
Taylor Lorenz
With millions getting their information about the war from the platform, the administration wants to get its message to top content creators.
Russian TikTok Influencers Are Being Paid to Spread Kremlin Propaganda
VICE
David Gilbert
An investigation by VICE News uncovered a coordinated campaign to pay Russian TikTok influencers to post videos pushing pro-Kremlin narratives.
Putin’s prewar moves against U.S. tech giants laid groundwork for crackdown on free expression
The Washington Post
Greg Miller and Joseph Menn
In a single year, Putin had his political nemesis Alexei Navalny imprisoned after a poisoning attempt failed to kill him; pushed independent news outlets to the brink of extinction; orchestrated a Kremlin-controlled takeover of Russia’s Facebook equivalent; and issued “liquidation” orders against human rights organizations. Amid this internal offensive, Putin also moved to bring foreign technology companies to heel.
Why Russia’s “disconnection” from the Internet isn’t amounting to much
ArsTechnica
Dan Goodin
Rumors of Russian Internet services degrading have been greatly exaggerated, despite unprecedented announcements recently from two of the world’s biggest backbone providers that they were exiting the country following its invasion of Ukraine.‘I’m writing this post now and crying’: Russians bid farewell to Instagram before midnight ban
The Washington Post
Paul Sonne and Mary Ilyushina
The tears were flowing Sunday among Russia’s airbrushed Instagram influencers, who begged their followers in farewell posts to join them on alternative social media platforms, as Russian authorities prepared to shut down the U.S.-owned social network at midnight.
Shaming Apple and Texting Musk, a Ukraine Minister Uses Novel War Tactics
The New York Times
Adam Satariano
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s youngest minister, has turned technology, cryptocurrency and social media into modern weapons of war.
Smartphones, digital citizens and open secrets in Russia–Ukraine war
The Strategist
Graeme Dobell
Modern weapons with all the sensors of a smartphone offer the military new ways of fighting, while digital citizens use new ways of seeing and acting to shift the war calculus. The world now has billions of digital citizens, linked by the passport they share—the device that’s constantly in their hands. The smartphone mindset is shaping understandings of secrecy, intelligence and war.Online Sleuths Are Using Face Recognition to ID Russian Soldiers
WIRED
Tom Simonite
It takes five minutes to put a name to a soldier's face using little more than a screenshot, but there's a catch.In Ukraine, hacktivists fight back with data leaks
The Verge
Corin Faife
A lot of internet bystanders were getting ready to make trouble for Russia — and they were going to use the mantle of Anonymous to do it.Ukraine has started using Clearview AI’s facial recognition during war
Reuters
Paresh Dave and Jeffrey Dastin
Ukraine's defense ministry on Saturday began using Clearview AI’s facial recognition technology, the company's chief executive told Reuters, after the U.S. startup offered to uncover Russian assailants, combat misinformation and identify the dead.Using a New Cyber Tool, Westerners Have Been Texting Russians About the War in Ukraine
The Wall Street Journal
Bojan Pancevski
People around the world are using a new website to circumvent the Kremlin’s propaganda machine by sending individual messages about the war in Ukraine to random people in Russia.
QAnon, Ukraine and 'biolabs': Russian propaganda efforts boosted by U.S. far right
NBC News
Ben Collins and Kevin Collier
Russian and Chinese officials have also pushed the theory, which has reached mainstream conservative media in the U.S.
Male State: The Russian Online Hate Group Backing Putin’s War
Bellingcat
Michael Colborne
While Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has stated that one of the main aims of his country’s military action is the “denazification” of Ukraine, vile anti-semitic posts and calls for Ukraine’s leaders to be executed are a regular feature on Male State channels.Leaked Kremlin Memo to Russian Media: It Is “Essential” to Feature Tucker Carlson
MotherJones
David Corn
On March 3, as Russian military forces bombed Ukrainian cities as part of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of his neighbor, the Kremlin sent out talking points to state-friendly media outlets with a request: Use more Tucker Carlson.
Australia
Australia's electricity grid increasingly vulnerable to hackers via solar panels, smart devices
ABC News
Daniel Mercer
Two of Australia's top cyber security advisors said the electricity networks of Russia's adversaries would be firmly in sight as part of any attack and Australia was not immune.
Regulators join up to form defence ring against digital platforms
Australian Financial Review
Tom Burton
In the first step to unify government oversight of the digital economy, four federal digital regulators are joining forces, building “a ring of regulatory defence” against the large US digital tech platforms.
China
China’s State Media and Government Officials Are Backing Russia on Ukraine
Alliance for Securing Democracy
Chinese state media appears to be doubling down on Russian messaging and disinformation, based on data from our War in Ukraine and Hamilton 2.0 dashboards.
What China’s Social Media Is Saying About Ukraine
The Atlantic
By Maria Repnikova and Wendy Zhou
Our analysis of online comments shows that pro-Moscow posturing is a veil for expressing a deeper critique of U.S. influence.
China says U.S. addresses used its computers to launch cyberattacks on Russia, Ukraine
Reuters
Brenda Goh
China has experienced continuous cyberattacks since February in which internet addresses in the United States have been used to seize control of Chinese computers to target Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, state news agency Xinhua said on Friday.
China's cyberspace regulator drafts new rules to protect minors
Reuters
Yingzhi Yang and Brenda Goh
Companies engaged in online gaming, livestreaming, audio and video in China should set up a "youth mode" to protect minors, according to draft regulations issued on Monday by the Cyberspace Administration of China.
Tencent Faces Possible Record Fine for Anti-Money-Laundering Violations
The Wall Street Journal
Jing Yang
China’s central bank found regulatory breaches and lapses during recent inspection of the ubiquitous payments network.
USA
Spy agencies' leaks of Russian plans point to the future of information warfare, Sen. Warner says
CyberScoop
Suzanne Smalley
U.S. intelligence officials have gone “way beyond their traditional comfort zone” over the past few weeks in publicly relaying intelligence almost in real time to hinder Russian operations in Ukraine, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Monday. The “forward-leaning intelligence” work on display in Ukraine represents a major shift from how U.S. spy agencies have conducted past wars, Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said at a forum organized by the Washington think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
U.S. spy agency probes sabotage of satellite internet during Russian invasion, sources say
Reuters
James Pearson, Raphael Satter, Christopher Bing and Joel Schectman
Western intelligence agencies are investigating a cyberattack by unidentified hackers that disrupted broadband satellite internet access in Ukraine coinciding with Russia's invasion, according to three people with direct knowledge of the incident.
How former U.S. hackers view dealing with Russia
POLITICO
Kim Zetter
The CIA and NSA have spent years burrowing into Russia’s critical computer networks to collect intelligence — and acquire access that President Joe Biden could seize on to order destructive cyberattacks on Vladimir Putin’s regime. But for now, the United States’ most likely approach is to tread slowly and carefully toward any cyber conflict with Russia, three experts with experience in U.S. hacking operations told POLITICO — while hoping the Russians do the same.
Why DoD’s New Approach to Data and Artificial Intelligence Should Enhance National Defense
Council on Foreign Relations
Michael C. Horowitz and Lauren A. Kahn
The DoD’s updated efforts on artificial intelligence (AI) are requiring some disruptive organizational changes, but this is a sign of real commitment to AI and data leadership.
North Asia
What South Korea’s Election Means for Its Technology Alliance With the United States
The Diplomat
Ryan Fedasiuk
Yoon’s election presents opportunities to strengthen the South Korea-U.S. relationship beyond traditional security concerns.
Cabinet approves draft amendments to curb AI-powered deepfakes
Focus Taiwan
Lai Yu-chen and Evelyn Kao
Taiwan's Cabinet on Thursday approved draft amendments to four key laws to curb the use of technology-enabled sexual images and video which would make the production and spread of fake or manipulated images and video for profit a crime punishable by a jail term of up to seven years.
NZ & Pacific Islands
Minister for ICT welcomes NICTA decision on Telstra acquisition of Digicel
Loop
ICT Minister Timothy Masiu has welcomed news of NICTA’s decision to give formal written consent on the transfer of license rights from Digicel Pacific to Telstra.
Europe
EU leaders announce intention to collectively rearm in face of Putin threat
The Guardian
Daniel Boffey
EU leaders have announced their intention to collectively rearm and become autonomous in food, energy and military hardware in a Versailles declaration that described Russia’s war as “a tectonic shift in European history”… The leaders agreed to “invest more and better in defence capabilities and innovative technologies” by substantially increasing defence expenditures and through tighter cooperation and coordination of their armed forces and procurement.
Italy annuls sale of military drones firm to Chinese investors, sources say
Reuters
Giuseppe Fonte, Angelo Amante and Gavin Jones
Italy on Thursday annulled the sale of a military drones company to Chinese investors, three government officials told Reuters, the latest in a series of moves by Prime Minister Mario Draghi to curb Beijing's forays into the euro zone's third-largest economy.
Middle East
Chinese and Saudi firms create joint venture to make military drones in the kingdom
DefenseNews
Agnes Helou
Saudi and Chinese industry have joined forces to design and build military drones in the kingdom. Advanced Communications and Electronics Systems Co. signed an agreement with China Electronics Technology Group Corp., with the two companies announcing their tie-up during the World Defense Show in Riyadh, which took place March 6-9.
Big Tech
To protect democracy globally, challenge monopoly power
Protocol
Laleh Ispahani
Meta and Google are taking the right steps with Russia, but still wield too much power in the world.
The FTC’s new enforcement weapon spells death for algorithms
Protocol
Kate Kaye
It may have found a new standard for penalizing tech companies that violate privacy and use deceptive data practices: algorithmic destruction.
Misc
Meta to allow Horizon Worlds users to turn their avatar’s personal safety boundary off
TechCrunch
Sarah Perez
After reports that women were already being groped and sexually harassed in Meta’s new VR spaces, Horizon Worlds and Venues, the company formerly known as Facebook last month rolled out a new “Personal Boundary” feature that created a bubble of space with a radius of two virtual feet around each avatar. This prevented avatars from getting within roughly four feet of one another. Today, Meta is customizing this feature by allowing users to optionally turn the setting off, or control when it’s enabled.
Research
Psychological and Emotional War
The Citizen Lab
Noura Al-Jizawi, Siena Anstis, Sophie Barnett, Sharly Chan, Niamh Leonard, Adam Senft, and Ron Deibert
In this report, we describe how Canadian activists and dissidents living in exile in Canada are impacted by digital transnational repression. We conclude that digital transnational repression has a serious impact on these communities, including their ability to undertake transnational advocacy work related to human rights. Yet, there is little support for victims who experience such targeting and policy efforts to date have been insufficient. This is a troubling finding considering that the Canadian government purports to welcome migrants and refugees to Canada and has made the promotion of democracy and human rights a cornerstone of its political platform.
Big Tech vs. Red Tech: The Diminishing of Democracy in the Digital Age
ORF
Samir Saran and Shashank Mattoo
Technology from the West Coast of the United States and technology that seeks to serve the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have both chosen to pursue their defined objectives with little thought for constitutional systems and laws in third countries. As such, much of the democratic world is at risk of being caught in the vice-like grip of big tech and red tech. It is, therefore, time for democratic societies to discover and examine means to secure an open and free global technological ecosystem that serves all shades of democracy.
The Tangled Web We Wove
CNAS
Megan Lamberth, Martijn Rasser, Ryan Johnson and Henry Wu
Tackling America’s supply chain problems will require a new conceptual framework that is fit for the current geopolitical context. The United States and China are engaged in a complex economic, political, and military competition marked by sharp ideological and normative differences and economic dependencies. Global trade and supply chain dynamics reflect much of the spectrum of this competition, the overreliance on China for key inputs and manufacturing capacity most prominently. Correcting this imbalance and assuring the resilience and security required is needed to ensure long-term American competitiveness.
Inside China’s National Defense Mobilization Reform: Capacity Surveys, Mobilization Resources, and “New-Type” Militias
Recorded Future
This report examines China’s national defense mobilization system, the national and international resources that authorities account for in national defense mobilization planning, and the emergence of “new-type” militia forces. The principal source for this report is a publicly available draft document authored by the Central Military Commission National Defense Mobilization Department, which Recorded Future found online in May 2021.
When War Isn't War
China Media Project
David Bandurski
While for much of the world the conflict in Ukraine is “Russia’s war,” Chinese media have opted for other terms, including “special military operation.” In this closer look at Chinese media coverage, we document this official framing — but also find some surprising and encouraging exceptions.
Targeting Ukraine through Washington: Russian election interference, Ukraine, and the 2024 US election
Atlantic Council
Gavin Wilde and Justin Sherman
This issue brief describes Russia’s interest in Ukraine as it interfered in past US elections, why the current state of play might shape interference in the 2024 US elections, and what policymakers must watch.
Jobs
The Sydney Dialogue - Director
ASPI ICPC
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is currently recruiting for a Director to lead the second iteration of ASPI’s Sydney Dialogue - the world’s premier summit on emerging, critical and cyber technologies.
The Sydney Dialogue - Senior Events Coordinator
ASPI ICPC
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is currently recruiting for an experienced events professional to coordinate the planning and logistics of the second iteration of ASPI’s Sydney Dialogue - the world’s premier summit on emerging, critical and cyber technologies.
ICPC Senior Analyst or Analyst - China
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for exceptional and experienced China-focused senior analysts or analysts to join its centre. This role will focus on original research and analysis centred around the (growing) range of topics which our ICPC China team work on. Our China team produces some of the most impactful and well-read policy-relevant research in the world, with our experts often being called upon by politicians, governments, corporates and civil society actors to provide briefings and advice.
Important disclaimer: This digest is a daily collation of material designed to provide authoritative information and commentary in relation to the subject matters covered. The views expressed in this material are those of the authors only. To provide feedback please contact: icpc@aspi.org.au