The Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) is a first of its kind organization with technical and policy expertise on disinformation, connective technologies, democracy, and the future of digital rights. Incubated at the Atlantic Council in 2016, the DFRLab has conducted over 1,000 investigations exposing influence operations and emerging digital threats worldwide.

With a team rooted in diverse regional expertise and subject-matter knowledge, the DFRLab works to promote digital resilience, defend democratic institutions, and ensure that objective fact remains central to public discourse in an increasingly contested information space.

Read the DFRLab’s latest case studies, learn about our initiatives, and more at DFRLab.org

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The Democracy + Tech Initiative creates policy practices that align global stakeholders toward tech and governance that reinforces, rather than undermines, open societies. It builds on the DFRLab’s established track record and leadership in the open-source field, empowering global communities to promote transparency and accountability online and around the world.

The Atlantic Council Technology Programs comprises five existing efforts—the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), the GeoTech Center, the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, the Democracy + Tech Initiative, and the Capacity Building Initiative. These operations work together to address the geopolitical implications of technology and provide policymakers and global stakeholders necessary research, insights, and convenings to address challenges around global technology and ensure its responsible advancement.

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From the archives

Experts

Content

Blog Post

Jul 27, 2020

#DFRLabCoffeeBreak with DFRLab Nonresident Fellow Cindy Otis

The DFRLab Coffee Break is a video series meant to discuss how disinformation and digital change affect industries, policy making, and society with a community of experts, academics, and leaders from around the world. Our guest in this video is DFRLab Nonresident Fellow Cindy Otis. In the interview, Cindy breaks down how society can tackle […]

Cybersecurity
Digital Policy
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#AlertaVenezuela

Jul 22, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 22, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Representatives aligned with Luis Parra, Maduro’s illegitimately installed National Assembly president, announcing on July 19 that he had been hospitalized after “apparent pneumonia.” Pro-Maduro accounts used Parra’s name to convey news about his condition and to promote Maduro regime’s hashtags on Twitter. “Luis Parra” trended as a keyword on Venezuela between July 19-21, 2020.

Disinformation
Venezuela
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#AlertaVenezuela

Jul 14, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 14, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Brazilian assets removed by Facebook for “coordinated inauthentic behavior” used the economic and health crisis in Venezuela, which has been exacerbated by the Maduro regime, to promote anti-socialist sentiment in Brazil. The DFRLab also found some of the assets shared memes supporting a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela. The same message had been shared before by Rumbo Libertad, a Venezuelan far right and libertarian movement whose members have appeared in pictures with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his sons in the past.

Disinformation
Venezuela

New Atlanticist

Jul 9, 2020

Experts dissect Iran regime’s disinformation campaign as COVID-19 worsens

By Larry Luxner

How much Iran’s 84 million people actually know about events inside their own country is debatable, given Tehran’s heavy-handed censorship and a global disinformation campaign that blames all crises, including COVID-19, on foreigners and perceived enemies of the regime.

Coronavirus
Disinformation
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#AlertaVenezuela

Jul 8, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 8, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

As the Maduro regime has reported an increase of coronavirus cases in Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro himself blamed Venezuelan migrants returning illegally to their country and the “Colombian mafia” to be the main source of the “Colombian virus” in Venezuela.

Disinformation
Venezuela

Interview

Jul 8, 2020

#DFRLabCoffeeBreak with Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs

The DFRLab Coffee Break is a video series meant to discuss how disinformation and digital change affect industries, policy making, and society with a community of experts, academics, and leaders from around the world.  Our guest in this video, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs, speaks with DFRLab’s Managing Editor and Director, Graham Brookie, about Latvia’s digital resilience, the infodemic surrounding COVID-19, and […]

Disinformation
Europe & Eurasia

Interview

Jul 2, 2020

#DFRLabCoffeeBreak with European Commission Vice President Věra Jourová

Vice-President for Values and Transparency for the European Commission Věra Jourová speaks with DFRLab Senior Fellow, Jakub Kalensky about the Commission’s latest Joint Communication.

Digital Policy
Disinformation
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#AlertaVenezuela

Jul 2, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: July 2, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

Twitter accounts with set locations of Cuba and Venezuela made at least six anti-U.S. and pro-Cuba hashtags trend in Venezuela. The accounts used the hashtags to denounce U.S. sanctions and to promote Cuban medical missions in Venezuela.

Disinformation
Venezuela
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#AlertaVenezuela

Jun 24, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: June 24, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

On Facebook, false claims that Nicolás Maduro would be ousted from power gained momentum after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would consider meeting with Nicolás Maduro to discuss “a peaceful exit [of Maduro] from power.”

Disinformation
Venezuela
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#AlertaVenezuela

Jun 17, 2020

#AlertaVenezuela: June 17, 2020

By Atlantic Council's DFRLab

With South America as a growing epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maduro regime has doubled down on his politization of the disease, accusing the governments of Colombia and Brazil of intentionally infecting Venezuelans who are returning from those countries to their home country.

Disinformation
Venezuela