Christopher Ray the director of the FBI recently said that the Russians are still trying to manipulate our social media and hack their way into our election infrastructure. He said they will certainly be part of the 2020 presidential election campaign. How do we preserve democracy when foreign intelligence services are trying to manipulate it?

In the first part of a two part podcast, we talk to Laura Rosenberger how we preserve democracy in the face of attack by foreign states. We discuss how tactics long-perfected by Russia are being used online to sow discord in the US and Europe in the run-up to democratic elections. These tactics are now being used by other authoritarian states like Iran and China, at home and abroad. We discuss the puzzling trend in anti-vaccination movements, and how these communities are being targeted and manipulated by foreign actors to spread new conspiracies. How can ordinary citizens detect when fake accounts are spreading falsehoods and ginning up societal divisions. We expect to see election meddling evolve, what is the government and the public doing to prepare for the 2020 elections? All this and more on this week’s Future State.

Websites and Social Media: https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/

http://www.gmfus.org/profiles/laura-rosenberger

Titter: @rosenbergerlm

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