The Kremlin’s Digital Pirates: How Russian Tracking Pixels Harvest Romanians’ Data to Fund Conspiracies and Extremism
For five months, we tracked over 100,000 ads displayed across 131 websites in Eastern Europe. After decoding the hidden mechanisms behind these ads, we uncovered a network of Russian companies. This investigation reveals what data is harvested from Romanians, who ends up receiving it, and why the ads shown on platforms with conspiratorial and extremist content are among the most valuable to this network.
Introducing RADAR: A Common Language for Digital Services Act Enforcement
Making DSA enforcement measurable, comparable, and actionable across Europe
“Pravda” Network: Worldwide Expansion and LLM, Wikipedia Pollution
CheckFirst, in partnership with DFRLab, shows how the Russian propaganda and disinformation “Pravda” network extended its coverage and aims (and succeeds) at polluting large language models (LLMs) and Wikipedia. Lastly, we demonstrate the inability of X’s Community notes to aptly address the spread of “Pravda” content on the platform.
Influence by Design: How Meta Accepted Russian Propaganda Payments Despite Sanctions
Check First, in partnership with Reset.tech and AI Forensics, unveils the extent to which Kremlin-linked entity SDA have exploited Meta platforms to disseminate propaganda.
Research Note: Meta’s Role in Romania’s 2024 Presidential Election
Check First, with the help of Reset Tech, EU DisinfoLab and independent journalists Luiza Vasiliu and Victor Ilie publish the flash research note “Ads, Influence, and Democracy: Meta’s Role in Romania’s 2024 Presidential Election.” This note offers critical insights into the influence of digital platforms on public opinion and the electoral process in Romania during a politically pivotal moment.
EU DisinfoLab 2024 conference: our key takeaways from #Disinfo2024
In an ever-evolving digital landscape, EU DisinfoLab serves as a vital hub for our community of actors striving for a safer online environment. The civil society community, policymakers, platforms representatives and regulators gathered in Riga, Latvia, on October 9 and 10 for two days of discussions centered around all the aspects of disinformation.
Operation Overload: A Growing Disinformation Threat Now Targeting the U.S. Presidential Election
Continuing the collaboration between Check First and Reset Tech, our latest findings confirm that the operation is based in Russia. We also describe how Operation Overload has now shifted its focus to the U.S., putting the bull’s eye on Kamala Harris.
The TikTok effect: How The App Shaped Political Discourse During Finnish European Elections
After focusing on YouTube & Google, a new report by Faktabaari and CheckFirst as part of the CrossOver Finland project has uncovered worrying trends around TikTok’s possible impact on the 2024 European elections in Finland.
Operation Overload: how pro-Russian actors flood newsrooms with fake content and seek to divert their efforts
“Please Check”. More than 800 organisations, among which many media outlets have been flooded with emails and social media mentions urging them to verify dubious claims undermining Ukraine, France and Germany for the most part. The issue is that these solicitations are part of a massive pro-Russian operation, still ongoing at the time of writing.
Unchecked Political Ads: A Surge of Pro-Russian Propaganda on Meta’s Platforms Ahead of EU Elections
Between May 1 and May 27, 2024, Meta approved at least 275 pro-Russian propaganda ads targeting Italy, Germany, France, and Poland. These ads, lacking the required political disclaimers, reached over three million accounts across these nations.