With 39 days until Election Day — and October and its eponymous surprises just around the corner — the United States is in perhaps the most critical period for the protection of our information environment ahead of the November vote.

It’s been an active few weeks, with the Department of Justice releasing an indictment and affidavit regarding Russia’s ongoing influence operations, a State Department declassification effort that has exposed Russia’s propaganda network, RT, as fully integrated into Moscow’s intelligence structures, and reports that Iran has either retained or regained access to the Trump campaign’s internal communications.

​​In my book, How to Lose the Information War, I explore how Russia has been exploiting fissures in democratic societies to fuel its disinformation campaigns, revealing tactics that deepen divisions and manipulate public sentiment. These campaigns are not new, but they are advancing alongside technology; we’ve seen evidence of AI-enabled disinformation, using AI-generated avatars and LLM-generated text, already this election. It’s important for the United States to remain vigilant and proactive in addressing these threats, and we at ASP are glad to see the U.S. government attempting to keep the public informed.

On the flip side, we have social media platforms, who, — as I told WBUR’s On Point — earlier this week, have become notably less transparent about what’s happening on their platforms and what they’re doing about it. Twitter monetized API access at tens of thousands of dollars per month, placing it out of reach of most academic institutions and nonprofits. Facebook killed CrowdTangle, replacing it with a tool that most researchers agree does not match its functionality. Even Reddit has made it harder and more expensive for researchers to get data access.

But — as ASP board member Katie Harbath often says — we should “panic responsibly.” We know there are nation states actively attempting to undermine our information integrity in the next few weeks. We know there are people who traffic in rage bait trying to make money off Americans’ hunger for information and entertainment.

I like to remind audiences that the most engaging content online is often the most enraging content. If you feel yourself getting emotional, it’s a good indication you might be being manipulated. There’s probably not a Russian bear behind every meme or viral post you encounter, but there might be an online huckster hoping for high engagement. Neither one is on the side of democracy and truth.

— Nina Jankowicz, Co-Founder and CEO of the American Sunlight Project

In the US election, there is again a flood of false reports on social media. The focus is currently on presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Fake images, manipulated photos and statements by Harris taken out of context are shared millions of times. Racism and sexism play an important role.

Nina Jankowicz discusses the current information ecosystem, explaining that there are complicated questions about what means we use to determine if something is true, but at bare minimum we need an information space predicated on good-faith attempts to reach consensus, even if through debate. To do that, we need to understand the media environment we’re in and the strategies we need to develop to preserve our ability to communicate.

Joking around with a Trump supporter at a Sept. 11 event this week, the president put on a “Trump 2024” hat for a few seconds. The pictures took on a life of their own.

The Federal Government has proposed new laws to persuade social media companies to act against disinformation and misinformation online. An American expert says online users need to beware, warning most people can’t recognize when they’re targeted.

Far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer has become part of Trump's inner circle, with allies fearing she is derailing the campaign with conspiracies even Marjorie Taylor Greene finds absurd, says Nina Jankowicz, former DHS Disinformation Governance Board head.

Russia’s efforts to influence American voters in this year’s elections are getting more advanced. They’ve even used American media personalities to try to sow division. How can we protect election integrity?

The Biden administration on Friday announced a major effort to blunt the global influence of RT and expose what it says is the Russian state media network’s key role in the Kremlin’s global intelligence and influence operations.

An official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said Russia is the top creator of such content, spreading false information through text, images, audio and video, most of it aimed at pushing divisive issues or creating false narratives about U.S. political figures.

A suspected Iranian hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has continued within the last 10 days and may still be happening, according to a journalist who received illegally obtained documents from the Republican nominee’s election effort.

The world’s shared town square, the internet, poses national security threats that are hard to ignore, senators heard at a committee hearing Tuesday. From cyber warfare to spying systems, Sen. Mitt Romney said that he feels “disturbed” by the weaponization of cyberspace by U.S. adversaries.