You were listening to the War on the Rocks podcast on Strategy, Defense and Foreign Affairs.

I'm Doyle Hodges, Executive Editor of Texas National Security Review.

Today we'll be speaking to two experts on disinformation, how to

recognize it, how to counter it, why it matters. Disinformation has been

prominent in the minds of many Americans since the 2016 election. The

Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released a report

on April 21st confirming Russian interference in both the 2016 and 2018 elections in part

through the use of disinformation campaigns. With the outbreak of the global COVID-19

pandemic we have seen a new growth in disinformation campaigns and a new set of

messages. At times the issue of disinformation can become entangled with the

entire use of social media space

and other changes occurring in the media landscape generally wherein people get a greater

portion of their information from sources congenial to their preexisting beliefs

and are disposed to mistrust the reliability and

accuracy of other sources but the problem is deeper than that. Jessica Brant is

head of policy and research for the Alliance for Securing Democracy and a fellow

at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

She was previously a Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, where her research

focused on multilateral institutions and geopolitics, and where she led a cross-program initiative on democracy at risk.

Camille Francois works on cyber conflict and digital rights online.

She is the chief innovation officer at Grafica, where she oversees the company's analysis,

investigation, and data science teams.

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