top of page
CRC logo (2).png

Weekly: Cyber-based hostile influence campaigns 05th - 11th January 2026

  • Writer: CRC
    CRC
  • 6 days ago
  • 18 min read

Updated: 5 days ago

Cover Image- Text: Weekly Media Update: Information Operations


[Introduction]


Cyber-based hostile influence campaigns are aimed at influencing target audiences by promoting information and/or disinformation over the internet, sometimes combined with cyber-attacks, which enhance their effect.  


During the last week, we observed, collected, and analyzed endpoints of information related to cyber-based hostile influence campaigns (including Cyfluence attacks). This week's report is a summary of what we regard as the main events.



[Contents]



[Social Media Platforms]



X



[State Actors]


Russia 


The War in Ukraine


China


[AI Related Articles]


[General Reports]


[Appendix - Frameworks to Counter Disinformation]




[ Report Highlights]



[Social Media Plattforms]


Disinformation and Digital Distortion of Geopolitics Through Social Media

A Wired article examines how social media has transformed geopolitics into short, viral videos that simplify and distort complex events. The recent US attack on Venezuela illustrated that while serious reporting detailed casualties, the capture of President Maduro, and broader geopolitical consequences, social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram circulated fragmented, emotionally charged narratives. Users encounter simplified, highly partisan content that frames reality in dramatic, often misleading ways, creating an illusion of immediate understanding while omitting nuance and context. This environment allows disinformation—whether intentional or algorithmically amplified—to spread rapidly, shaping public perception before facts can be verified. Experts have noted that digital disintermediation has worsened the problem. Each user effectively becomes a media outlet, selecting content that confirms preexisting beliefs. Emotional reactions, memes, and viral sketches often dominate the discourse, drowning out fact-based reporting. The result is a polarized, reactive public that interprets events through ideological lenses rather than verified evidence. The Venezuelan case highlighted how social media algorithms reward engagement over accuracy, creating echo chambers that reinforce biases and erode critical judgment.


Source: Wired, A. Lagos. Culture. The Danger of Reducing America’s Venezuela Invasion to a 60-Second Video. [online] Published 11 January 2026. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/the-danger-of-reducing-a-americas-venezuela-invasion-to-a-60-second-video/

X

Grok Spreads AI-Generated Sexualized Images

The European Commission is weighing further action against social media platform X, The Record reports, after its AI tool Grok was used to generate sexualized images of a minor. The Commission described Grok’s output as illegal and unacceptable. EU officials noted that Grok has previously been linked to the spread of other unlawful content, including material undermining recognition of the Holocaust, which is criminalized in several European countries. Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), platforms are required to protect users from illegal content and systemic risks.


Following these developments, X has come under urgent review by the UK media regulator Ofcom, while Australia’s online safety regulator has also opened an investigation, as reported by CyberNews citing The Guardian. Governments have warned X to comply with digital safety laws or face serious consequences, including potential blocking in the UK. UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said she would support blocking the platform if it refuses to comply with the Online Safety Act, and The Record noted that three U.S. senators have asked Google and Apple to remove the Grok and X apps from their app stores. Politico also reported that users targeted political figures such as Sweden’s deputy prime minister, Ebba Busch, whose manipulated image was later withheld in the European Union under local laws.


X has responded by framing EU enforcement actions as “political censorship” and an attack on free speech. Nevertheless, it has limited Grok’s image-generation feature to paying users, presenting this as a temporary safeguard following recent misuse. This step is widely viewed as damage control rather than a solution to the systemic risks posed by AI-driven disinformation and manipulation. As CyberNews reported, experts and regulators argue that restricting access fails to address the deeper problem: Grok’s lack of effective safeguards against abuse and deception.


Sources:

[State Actors]


Russia

Russian Influence Networks Flood U.S. Discourse After Maduro’s Capture

DFR Lab details how, following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, a broad Russia-linked influence infrastructure rapidly mobilized to target U.S. information spaces. Unable to materially protect a key Latin American ally, Moscow pivoted to information warfare, flooding social media and fringe news ecosystems with contradictory narratives, conspiracy theories, pseudo–fact checks, and AI-generated or manipulated visuals. Rather than promoting a single coherent story, Russian-linked actors focused on saturating the discourse to confuse audiences and reframe the episode as evidence of U.S. instability and unreliability as an ally, particularly for Europe and NATO.


A central role was played by Storm-1516, a Russia-linked operation that leveraged influencer networks, fabricated media sites, and cross-platform amplification to push mutually conflicting claims. These ranged from false-flag allegations and antisemitic conspiracies to recycled or AI-generated footage portraying Venezuelan reactions in misleading ways. The contradictions were often deliberate, with some accounts promoting AI-generated videos while others “debunked” the same content. Parallel efforts came from the Pravda Network, which translated and laundered Kremlin-aligned material into U.S.-facing websites and pro-Trump or QAnon-adjacent Telegram ecosystems, ensuring steady reinforcement of Russian state narratives for English-speaking audiences.


In Russian-language spaces, state-aligned actors and military bloggers emphasized geopolitical consequences, portraying Maduro as a legitimate leader and framing his capture as an attack on the rules-based international order. Commentary amplified figures such as Viktor Bout to cast U.S. courts as tools of political repression and to deflect attention from Russia’s limited response.


Source: DFR Lab, E. Buziashvili. How Russia’s influence machine mobilized immediately after Maduro’s capture. [online] Published 10 January 2026. Available at: https://dfrlab.org/2026/01/10/how-russias-influence-machine-mobilized-immediately-after-maduros-capture/ttps://disinfowatch.org/disinfo/rt-claims-mariupol-theatre-reopens-after-the-ukrainian-armed-forces-terrorist-attack/


Disinformation Campaign Targeting Estonian History on Wikipedia

StopFake reports that Estonian authorities and Wikimedia Estonia are meeting to address growing concerns about historical disinformation on Wikipedia, particularly in the English-language edition. Hundreds of biographies and history articles have been altered to falsely portray Estonia and other Baltic states as integral parts of the Soviet Union or Russia, downplaying their occupation, independence, and defensive struggles, such as Estonia’s War of Independence. These edits misrepresent historical facts and shape misleading narratives for international readers.


Wikimedia Estonia believes the changes are largely driven by a single Russian-speaking editor promoting pro-Kremlin interpretations of history. While most questionable edits are quickly detected and reversed, officials warn that such coordinated manipulation reflects long-standing information-warfare tactics against Estonia dating back to 2007. The goal, they say, is not accuracy but narrative distortion—rewriting history to legitimize Russian geopolitical claims.


Source: StopFake, V. Troyan. для ІМІ. В Эстонии фиксируют попытки искажения истории страны в Википедии. [online] Published 9 January 2026. Available at: https://www.stopfake.org/ru/v-estonii-fiksiruyut-popytki-iskazheniya-istorii-strany-v-vikipedii/


Report Warns of Growing Russia–China Coordination in Technology-Driven Hybrid and Disinformation Operations

A Jamestown Foundation publication outlines how Russia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are increasingly integrating technology into coordinated hybrid operations, combining cyber activity, information warfare, and emerging military technologies to pressure Western states and U.S. allies. It emphasizes that digital influence campaigns, cyberattacks, and electromagnetic disruption are now integral to this hybrid approach, alongside conventional military power. These activities rely on ambiguity and deniability, enabling both actors to undermine adversaries while avoiding clear escalation thresholds.


A central finding is the growing role of artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities, and information dominance in shaping the operational environment. Russia has accelerated AI integration following lessons learned in Ukraine, while the PRC is adapting AI systems—often built on Western technologies—to support “intelligentized warfare” that prioritizes algorithms, data control, and narrative influence. Cyber and information operations are portrayed as tools to exploit societal and institutional vulnerabilities, particularly through disinformation, cyber sabotage, and pressure on critical infrastructure, including NATO frontline states.


The article also highlights targeted hybrid tactics against infrastructure and information systems, including cyberattacks, GPS spoofing, and suspected sabotage of undersea cables in the Baltic, the Arctic, and near Taiwan, raising concerns about potential coordination between Russia and the PRC. These actions illustrate how technology-enabled hybrid operations blend physical disruption with information effects to create insecurity, weaken trust, and strain Western resilience. Overall, the report frames these activities as part of a long-term strategy to reshape the strategic environment through sustained technological, cyber, and informational pressure rather than overt conflict.


Source: The Jamestown Foundation. Strategic Snapshot: Russia–PRC Technology and Hybrid Operations. [online] Published 11 January 2026. Available at: https://jamestown.org/strategic-snapshot-russia-prc-technology-and-hybrid-operations/

War in Ukraine

Kremlin Disinformation Framing Ukraine and its Supporters as “Neo-Nazi”

DisinfoWatch reported that Russian state outlet RT is using a real event to spread a misleading and recycled disinformation narrative. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did appoint Canada’s Chrystia Freeland as a non-staff economic adviser, RT distorted this fact by reviving the long-standing Kremlin trope equating Ukraine with Nazism. The outlet relied on comments by Russian official Maria Zakharova and used insinuation rather than evidence to push this claim.


RT alleged that Freeland’s appointment proves Ukraine is a “haven for neo-Nazis,” pointing to the historical fact that her grandfather edited a newspaper under Nazi occupation during World War II. A documented family history was presented as misleading proof of Freeland’s beliefs or of the present-day Ukrainian government’s ideology, while no evidence was offered to connect this historical detail to current Ukrainian policy or leadership.


In a separate article, DisinfoWatch added that Russian state media TASS and the Russian Foreign Ministry presented a “counter-sanctions” list barring 28 Canadian citizens from entering Russia, falsely accusing them of promoting neo-Nazi ideology and framing even Western support for Ukraine as Nazism. In reality, the list was not evidence-based at all. Since 2022, Moscow has repeatedly issued symbolic entry bans against Canadians in response to Ottawa’s sanctions, routinely using “neo-Nazi” rhetoric without substantiation. Those named include respected academics, civil society activists, journalists, and NGO leaders, many of whom are linked to Ukrainian studies or human rights work. There is no credible evidence that any of them supports neo-Nazism.


Sources:

 

China

China’s AI and Disinformation Campaign Following Maduro’s Capture

DFR Lab described how Chinese state-linked social media accounts deployed a distinctive strategic response to the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, relying heavily on AI-generated memes, parody videos, and hashtag campaigns to undermine US credibility. Chinese accounts adopted an irreverent, digitally native style—mirroring the aesthetic often used by U.S. President Donald Trump—to criticize U.S. foreign interventions and portray Washington as a unilateral power that leaves disorder in its wake.


Official statements from Beijing, echoed across state media and social platforms, framed China as a defender of sovereignty and international law, in contrast to what it described as U.S. hegemony. China’s domestic information ecosystem reinforced this messaging at scale. On platforms such as Weibo and Zhihu, hashtags and discussions tied to the foreign ministry’s response dominated trending lists, accumulating tens of millions of views. Popular posts questioned the legitimacy of the U.S. arrest of a foreign leader and warned that regime change in Venezuela could set a dangerous precedent for smaller states.


In parallel, inauthentic accounts on X, exhibiting traits associated with the Spamouflage network, amplified narratives accusing the United States of acting out of economic self-interest, particularly in the oil sector. Chinese state media also experimented with English-language AI-generated meme videos to reach global audiences, though these saw limited organic engagement outside China.


Source: DFR Lab, K. Thibaut. AI, memes, and hashtags: How China is battling the US online over Venezuela. [online] Published 10 January 2026. Available at: https://dfrlab.org/2026/01/10/how-china-is-battling-us-online-over-venezuela/


[AI Related Articles]


AI Turbocharges Hoaxes About the Minneapolis ICE Shooting

NewsGuard reported that, in the immediate aftermath of the 7 January 2026 shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, social media was rapidly flooded with AI-generated and AI-altered misinformation. Within 24 hours, at least six false claims circulated widely, four of them relying on AI to fabricate images or distort the circumstances of the shooting, collectively drawing more than 4 million views across X, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok.

These hoaxes included AI-enhanced images falsely claiming to reveal the masked agent’s identity and face, as well as fabricated visuals portraying the encounter as calm and non-confrontational, contradicting verified video footage. Some posts even misidentified the agent as Steve Grove, the CEO of the Minnesota Star Tribune, forcing the newspaper to publicly deny any connection. Investigations found that the viral images were digitally altered or entirely generated by AI tools, including content produced directly by X’s chatbot Grok, which later acknowledged that the images were speculative and not based on real data.

To demonstrate how easily such hoaxes can be created, NewsGuard conducted a “red-teaming” audit of OpenAI’s Sora 2 and xAI’s Grok Imagine. Both tools generated convincing fake videos that advanced false claims about the shooting in roughly 75 percent of tests, including fabricated news reports and invented identities, and sometimes added realistic but false details on their own.


Source: NewsGuard's Reality Check, C. Vercellone & N. Huet. AI Used to ‘Unmask’ ICE Agent, in Latest Case of ‘AI Enhancement’ of Breaking News. [online] Published 8 January 2026.



Deepfakes as Disinformation Threats to Digital Identity and Trust

Research by the Cybercrime Atlas research group analyzed 17 face-swapping tools and eight camera injection tools to assess whether they effectively enable KYC (know-your-customer) bypass and to characterize the current deepfake landscape. The paper found that the misuse of deepfakes in KYC and remote verification processes enables attackers to inject false identities into financial systems, leading to fraud, impersonation, and reputational harm. By combining face-swapping technology, camera injection tools, and stolen or AI-generated documents, threat actors can present synthetic identities as real, undermining trust in digital verification at individual, organizational, and systemic levels.


The research shows that while many deepfake tools remain imperfect, some already enable real-time, high-fidelity impersonation that can bypass biometric checks under certain conditions. This form of identity-based disinformation is becoming more scalable and dangerous as advanced AI tools become widely available and regulation remains fragmented. The study stressed that countering deepfake-driven disinformation requires coordinated, multi-layered defenses. Stronger liveness detection, continuous monitoring, risk-based fraud analysis, and shared governance standards are essential to prevent synthetic identities from becoming embedded in digital systems.


Source: World Economic Forum, N. Umansky. Unmasking Cybercrime: Strengthening Digital Identity Verification against Deepfakes. [online] Published January 2026. Available at: https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unmasking_Cybercrime_Strengthening_Digital_Identity_Verification_against_Deepfakes_2026.pdf


AI-Generated Disinformation on TikTok Targeting Ukraine

StopFake has documented a recent surge of AI-generated videos pushing pro-Russian disinformation on Ukrainian TikTok. These clips, frequently depicting staged mass protests in Kyiv, Odesa, and Kharkiv, have accumulated millions of views. Leveraging realistic AI models such as OpenAI’s Sora, propagandists fabricate reporters, crowds, and events that never took place, combining emotionally charged delivery with vague, alarming claims.


Several accounts play a particularly prominent role in these campaigns. They circulate AI-generated footage showing crowds chanting pro-Russian slogans, waving Russian flags, or portraying Ukrainian citizens as eager to join Russia. While some videos reference real concerns such as corruption or a desire for peace, these themes are manipulated to advance the false narrative that Russia offers the solution. Advances in AI now allow such actors to bypass traditional production barriers, resulting in content that appears highly realistic and is more difficult to detect than archival or staged footage.


Source: StopFake, A. Korol & S. Mikhalkov. для Текстів. «Россия, помоги!» ИИ-видео с протестами в Украине набирают миллионы просмотров в TikTok. [online] Published 8 January 2026.


AI Is Becoming a Force Multiplier for Disinformation and Democratic Manipulation

As a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report notes, artificial intelligence is increasingly intersecting with democratic systems in ways that both amplify disinformation risks and create new avenues for political influence. The report identifies AI-generated misinformation, deepfakes, and automated content as growing tools used by domestic and foreign actors to manipulate elections, distort public debate, and undermine trust in democratic institutions, particularly during election cycles. These tactics exploit AI’s ability to scale persuasive, personalized, and synthetic content across digital platforms, complicating efforts to verify information and safeguard information integrity.


The analysis maps four key domains where these risks manifest: elections and campaigns, citizen deliberation, government institutions and services, and social cohesion. Across these areas, hostile influence actors can leverage AI to spread misleading narratives, suppress or confuse voters, and erode confidence in governance, while authoritarian governments may deploy AI for surveillance, censorship, and state-led disinformation. The report notes that existing countermeasures, such as content labeling, monitoring, and platform policies, remain fragmented and insufficient given the speed and adaptability of AI-enabled influence operations.


At the same time, the report emphasizes that responses to AI-driven disinformation depend heavily on the actors involved, including governments, technology companies, civil society, and political campaigns. It argues that without stronger coordination, transparency, and guardrails, AI’s role in the information environment risks deepening polarization and weakening democratic resilience. Addressing hostile influence, therefore, requires not only technical solutions but also institutional capacity, cross-sector cooperation, and sustained oversight to prevent AI from becoming a force multiplier for disinformation campaigns.


Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, R. George & I. Klaus. AI and Democracy: Mapping the Intersections. [online] Published 8 January 2026. Available at: https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2026/01/ai-and-democracy-mapping-the-intersections?lang=en

[General Reports]


Disinformation Surge After U.S. Raid in Venezuela

CyberScoop reported that, following the surprise U.S. operation in Caracas that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a lack of clear and timely information from the Trump administration created an information vacuum. This was quickly filled by disinformation online, including realistic but fake images and videos, recycled footage from past conflicts, and AI-generated content falsely portraying Maduro’s arrest. Social media platforms were flooded with manipulated visuals, some of which even inserted other world leaders into fabricated “perp walk” scenes, amplifying confusion during a fast-moving news event.


At the same time, coordinated narratives framed the U.S. action as imperialist aggression driven by a desire to seize Venezuela’s oil. Spanish- and English-language online groups widely spread claims that the raid was theft rather than a law enforcement operation, echoing long-standing anti-U.S. themes promoted by actors aligned with Russia and China. The disinformation also revived debunked domestic conspiracy theories. Right-wing influencers falsely linked Maduro’s capture to claims that Venezuela helped manipulate the 2020 U.S. election—allegations that have been repeatedly disproven and legally repudiated. Experts stressed that much of the AI-driven, conspiratorial content was not intended to persuade skeptics but to reinforce existing beliefs and mobilize supporters.


Source: CyberScoop, D. B. Johnson. AI, voting machine conspiracies fill information vacuum around Venezuela operation. [online] Published 5 January 2026. Available at: https://cyberscoop.com/ai-voting-machine-conspiracies-fill-information-vacuum-venezuela-raid/


Climate Disinformation Identified as a Long-Term Influence Threat in Europe

Harmful Environmental Agendas and Tactics (HEAT) post-project reflection report analyzes how climate-related misinformation and hostile narratives circulate across France, Germany, and the Netherlands, undermining trust in climate science, environmental policy, and public institutions. The research identifies persistent narrative clusters, including climate denial, anti-elite and anti-government framing, and conspiracy theories portraying environmental action as coercive, manipulative, or part of hidden global agendas. These narratives are shown to be resilient, adaptive, and responsive to political events, extreme weather, and public anxiety, allowing them to re-emerge repeatedly across different national contexts.


The report highlights key tactics and actors involved in amplifying harmful environmental narratives. Fringe influencers, partisan commentators, alternative media outlets, and loosely coordinated online communities act as initial catalysts, introducing misleading claims that later migrate into more mainstream discourse when they align with salient political debates. Cross-platform dissemination enables these narratives to move between fringe and mainstream spaces, while cross-border information flows allow conspiratorial content—often originating in English-language ecosystems—to be adapted to local grievances in each country. Although national contexts differ, common structures persist: attacks on scientific authority, portrayals of climate policy as economically punitive, and claims of climate manipulation or geoengineering.


Overall, the HEAT project concludes that environmental misinformation functions as a long-term influence vector, embedded within broader patterns of institutional distrust, identity politics, and socio-economic anxiety rather than isolated false claims. The findings stress that harmful narratives do not dissipate after exposure but evolve alongside political and social developments, requiring sustained monitoring and comparative analysis. The report’s dissemination and uptake by media, researchers, and international institutions underscore its relevance for understanding how climate disinformation intersects with democratic resilience and policy legitimacy across Europe.


Source: Logically & EU DisinfoLab. Prepared for the European Media and Information Fund (EMIF). HEAT: Harmful Environmental Agendas & Tactics: A look at France, Germany, and the Netherlands. [online] Published 23 June 2025.


Social Media Amplifies Disinformation and Polarization Around Venezuela Crisis

A WIRED article examines how social media–driven information dynamics have reshaped the interpretation of major geopolitical events, accelerating the spread of misleading, polarized, and propagandistic narratives surrounding the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. Experts cited in the piece argue that the collapse of traditional fact-checking timelines has allowed platforms to function as real-time constructors of reality, privileging speed, emotion, and simplification over verification. Political actors, most notably U.S. President Donald Trump, used social media to frame the intervention as legitimate and triumphant, while competing narratives from Venezuelan officials, activists, and commentators circulated simultaneously, producing confusion rather than clarity.


Disinformation and distortion did not rely solely on outright falsehoods but also on selective framing, satire, memes, and emotionally charged short-form videos that spread rapidly across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, and X. Accounts such as Historia Para Tontos illustrated how simplified, ironic content can go viral and shape geopolitical understanding, while comment sections became arenas for ideological confrontation, often reinforcing pre-existing beliefs. Scholars and journalists highlighted how algorithms reward outrage and immediacy, amplifying polarized narratives and reducing space for nuance, dialogue, or contextual reporting.The article further underscores how information control, digital blackouts, and fear of persecution in Venezuela have driven citizens toward fragmented, private communication channels, particularly WhatsApp, making coordinated, high-quality information dissemination more difficult. Independent media collectives and diaspora voices attempt to counter misinformation, but the overall environment remains saturated with noise, bias, and competing propaganda. Analysts warn that this disintermediated ecosystem, in which every user acts as a broadcaster, creates fertile ground for manipulation, echo chambers, and the erosion of the public’s capacity to distinguish truth from fabricated or legitimized narratives, turning geopolitical crises into ongoing cognitive battles rather than discrete events.


Source: Wired, A. Lagos. The Danger of Reducing America’s Venezuela Invasion to a 60-Second Video. [online] Published 11 January 2026. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/the-danger-of-reducing-a-americas-venezuela-invasion-to-a-60-second-video/


AI-Driven Disinformation Exploits Maduro Arrest to Shape Global Narratives

Graphika found that the arrest and extradition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro generated a highly volatile information environment that was quickly filled with misleading and synthetic content across major platforms. Within 48 hours, Graphika identified AI-generated videos, fabricated images, and repurposed footage circulating widely on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube. This content was shared by both engagement-driven accounts seeking virality and ideologically motivated users advancing political narratives, illustrating how disinformation thrives when facts are still emerging, and verification lags behind real-time sharing.


Graphika could identify three dominant disinformation tactics. First, AI-generated videos falsely depicting Venezuelans celebrating Maduro’s arrest spread quickly, often posted by newly created TikTok accounts that had previously shared other emotionally charged synthetic content, suggesting opportunistic engagement farming rather than a single coordinated political campaign.


Second, fabricated booking images showing Maduro in a U.S.-style mugshot circulated widely, despite clear visual inconsistencies indicating manipulation. These images were initially shared by generic “breaking news” accounts and later amplified by opposition voices, who framed them as proof of justice, eventually appearing in mainstream media coverage and demonstrating how unverified social media content can be laundered to appear legitimate.


Third, the strategic repurposing of authentic but unrelated footage to advance misleading narratives. Ideologically aligned accounts, including pro-Maduro and anti-U.S. actors across multiple languages, reused videos from prior U.S. protests and falsely presented them as contemporary demonstrations against U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Some versions deliberately obscured original logos to conceal provenance. Together, these cases show how generative AI, recycled media, and platform incentives enable rapid narrative shaping without centralized coordination—reinforcing ideological positions, confusing audiences, and allowing misleading content to penetrate mainstream discourse in ways that mirror tactics used in elections, scams, and foreign influence campaigns beyond this specific event.


Source: Graphika. How Graphika Tracked Synthetic Content After Maduro's Arrest. [online] Published 9 January 2026.

[Appendix - Frameworks to Counter Disinformation]


U.S. Withdrawal from Cyber and Information Security Forums Raises Disinformation Concerns

The Trump administration is pulling the United States out of several international organizations focused on cybersecurity cooperation, online freedom, and countering hybrid threats, CyberScoop reports, including the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, the Freedom Online Coalition, and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. The move is framed by the administration as part of a broader retreat from multilateral institutions it views as mismanaged, ideologically driven, or incompatible with U.S. sovereignty. Critics warn that the decision risks creating a leadership vacuum in areas central to countering cyber threats, disinformation, and hybrid influence campaigns.


Experts cited in the article argue that these organizations play a critical role in strengthening collective defenses against cybercrime, infrastructure attacks, and information manipulation, and that U.S. withdrawal weakens international coordination at a time of escalating cyber and disinformation threats. The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise supports capacity building on cybersecurity and emerging technologies, while the Freedom Online Coalition promotes digital rights and opposes cyber-enabled repression. The European Centre of Excellence focuses on countering hybrid threats that blend cyber operations, disinformation, and other non-military tactics targeting democratic states.


Former officials, academics, and civil society leaders caution that disengagement from these forums undermines the rules-based international order and reduces democratic states' ability to respond collectively to hostile influence operations. They warn that diminished U.S. participation could enable authoritarian actors to expand their influence, weaken protections for free expression online, and create conditions in which disinformation, cyber repression, and hybrid threats spread with fewer constraints.


Source: CyberScoop, T. Starks. Trump pulls US out of international cyber orgs. [online] Published 8 January 2026.

[CRC Glossary]


The nature and sophistication of the modern Information Environment is projected to continue to escalate in complexity. However, across academic publications, legal frameworks, policy debates, and public communications, the same concepts are often described in different ways, making collaboration, cooperation, and effective action more difficult.


To ensure clarity and establish a consistent frame of reference, the CRC is maintaining a standard glossary to reduce ambiguity and promote terminological interoperability. Its scope encompasses foundational concepts, as well as emerging terms relating to Hostile Influence and Cyfluence.


As a collaborative project maintained with input from the community of experts, the CRC Glossary is intended to reflect professional consensus. We encourage you to engage with this initiative and welcome contributions via the CRC website 











 
 
bottom of page