Event Overview
What does COVID-19 teach us about the evolving narratives, tactics, and distribution strategies of Russian and Chinese disinformation?
The COVID-19 public health crisis involves more than a fight against the coronavirus. It has prompted an information war in which the United States and its allies are losing ground to adversaries, particularly Russia and China. China has replicated Russia’s tactics, spreading disinformation globally for the first time, particularly on the virus’ origins. Russia’s approaches evolved little; it recycled previous narratives, spreading a broad range of COVID-19 disinformation. Circular amplification of narratives during the pandemic does not (yet) amount to evidence of strategic Sino-Russian coordination, but the threat is evolving. What does COVID-19 teach us about the evolving narratives, tactics, and distribution strategies of Russian and Chinese disinformation? And how should Western policymakers respond to information warfare from malign foreign actors?
Dalia Bankauskaitė, Charles Burton, Geysha González, Jakub Kalenský, and Edward Lucas will discuss the latest developments with vaccine disinformation and how the information challenge from Russia and China continues to evolve.
