In this episode, Graham Brookie, Vice President for Technology Programs and Strategy at the Atlantic Council and Senior Director of its Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), discusses one of the Kremlin’s primary platforms for reaching its audiences: Telegram.
He explores Telegram’s role in the information conflict in Ukraine, explaining the factors that have made it a fertile ground for state and non-state actors—often with malicious intent—to disseminate their narratives to vast audiences. Graham also delves into the consequences of this platform's use during times of war.
The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) published its first report in 2016, which was an open-source analysis of Russian military operations in Eastern Ukraine. Using then-basic open-source analytical tools, the DFRLab was able to prove that, contrary to the Kremlin’s claims that no official Russian military forces were present in Ukraine, Russian troops were indeed operating on Ukrainian soil under the command of Russian authorities.
Since that initial report, DFRLab has continued to monitor Russian activities in the information space, helping to detect and understand Russia’s evolving narratives and revealing how these narratives are adapted to fit new tactics used by Russia to manipulate information both domestically and internationally.
You can watch the videocast below and find more from STRATCOMCOE at its YouTube channel.
