When It Comes to Disinformation, No One More Atrocious than Nina Jankowicz

How long before Republicans up for election in Midterms will be blamed for Russian disinformation?

"The war, along with Russian media's coverage of it, "has spurred Western governments, social media companies, and individuals to limit or disengage from Russian state media outlets, likely degrading many outlets' ability to directly message to Western audiences through 2022," states the April 22 DHS bulletin, produced in coordination with the Defense Intelligence Agency."

"The assessment is part of the U.S. government's tracking and analysis of Russian state-sponsored messaging efforts targeting Western audiences. But those who track Russian disinformation remain concerned about the Russian government's capabilities when it comes to meddling in the 2022 midterm elections. (AOL)

"Nina Jankowicz, who was a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, has repeatedly cast doubt on The Post's reporting about Hunter Biden's laptop. "During a series of live tweets during the presidential debate between Biden and Donald Trump in October 2020, Jankowicz had referenced the laptop. "Back on the 'laptop from hell,' apparently—Biden notes 50 former natsec officials and 5 former CIA heads that believe the laptop is a Russian influence op," Jankowicz tweeted. "Trump says 'Russia, Russia, Russia,'" she added. "Her tweet resurfaced immediately after she revealed she'd been named executive director of the new disinformation bureau on Wednesday — as conservatives slammed her as a "leftist radical" and expressed doubt in her ability to spot misinformation."

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"Information laundering is really quite ferocious. It's when a huckster takes some lies and makes them sound precocious, by saying them in Congress or a mainstream outlet, so disinformation's origins are slightly less atrocious," she sang. (NY Post, April 30, 2022) "Jankowicz tried to brush off the controversy surrounding her old laptop tweet, saying: "For those who believe this tweet is a key to all my views, it is simply a direct quote from both candidates during the final presidential debate. If you look at my timeline, you will see I was livetweeting that evening." "But the Russian misinformation expert had told the Associated Press just a week earlier that there was doubt the laptop even belonged to Hunter and there were multiple red flags that emails uncovered from the device were legit.

"We should view it as a Trump campaign product," Jankowicz said at the time. "Jankowicz had also tweeted a link to a news article in October 2020 that she said cast "yet more doubt on the provenance of the NY Post's Hunter Biden story." "Not to mention that the emails don't need to be altered to be part of an influence campaign. Voters deserve that context, not a [fairy] tale about a laptop repair shop," she added in another tweet.

"Jankowicz, who has researched Russian disinformation tactics and online harassment, also previously praised Christopher Steele — the author of the since-discredited Trump-bashing dossier. (NY Post) "In August 2020, Jankowicz tweeted about the former British spy's appearance on the Infotagion podcast, writing: "Listened to this last night – Chris Steele (yes THAT Chris Steele) provides some great historical context about the evolution of disinfo. Worth a listen. "More recently, Jankowicz flagged concerns about the potential for Elon Musk to takeover Twitter. "I shudder to think about if free speech absolutists were taking over more platforms, what that would look like for the marginalized communities," she said in an interview with NPR ahead of Musk's takeover deal emerging.

"Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese state media outlets began amplifying Russian allegations of U.S.-funded bioweapon labs in Ukraine, portrayals of NATO as the aggressor through decades of U.S.-led eastward expansion, and assertions that Western sanctions are unlikely to be effective," the DHS assessment states. (AOL) "However," the report adds, "Chinese-state media did not amplify some other Russian-backed narratives, such as the claim that Nazis ran Ukraine." "The DHS bulletin notes that RT's twitter handle urged its followers to join alternate platforms like Canada-based video streaming service Rumble, which hasn't yet limited Russian state media content. As of March 18, RT's Rumble account had 36,000 subscribers compared to late February, when it had almost 4.6 million subscribers to its now-blocked YouTube account. "Russia could also attempt to compromise U.S. voting infrastructure, as it has done in the past, said Shelby Grossman, a research scholar at the Stanford Internet Observatory who has been tracking pro-Kremlin propaganda online since before the invasion. "Even if such attempts are on their surface not very effective, the perception of voting infrastructure insecurity could undermine confidence in the election," she told Yahoo News. "Cindy Otis, a former CIA analyst and expert on disinformation threats, did not view the DHS document but said that generally speaking she thinks it's too early to say whether efforts to decrease Russian state media's reach are working, let alone whether they will limit Russian disinformation operations that target U.S. elections in 2022. "Moscow has a whole suite of other tools it continues to use despite limitations on RT and Sputnik, such as gray propaganda websites through which it launders disinformation; its foreign allies who amplify narratives for them; domestic and foreign influencers, such as media personalities and social media stars, including in the U.S., who amplify Russian disinformation; and fake social media accounts," she said. A former senior government official involved in aspects of the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 elections put it more bluntly. "They don't need China; they don't need state media," said the former official, who also requested anonymity. "They just need social media and Tucker Carlson."

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