Congress ramps up efforts to win global information war
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The U.S. government is seeking to step up its information war to defeat nation-state threat actors like Russia and China, which have ramped up their disinformation campaigns globally in recent years.
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Congress is not only concerned about how nation-state threat actors are waging an information war inside the U.S., but also globally as they expand their malign influence in other parts of the world, including in Africa and Latin America.
“Countries including Russia and China deploy immense resources to wage global information campaigns attempting to shape the narratives of their actions to their advantage, most often by twisting the truth or deflecting attention to distract the public from their true goals,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said during a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
Amanda Bennett, CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who testified at the hearing, said Russia, China and Iran — which often work together — are heavily investing in disinformation campaigns both inside their countries and abroad.
“The reality is that if we miss this opportunity to make strategic investments now, we may run the risk of losing the global information war,” Bennett told the lawmakers.
“We should be alarmed about this but still optimistic, alarmed because we’re being vastly outspent, but optimistic because we still have the competitive advantage,” she added.
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we’re Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.
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How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:
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News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
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Twitter launched encryptedmessages with limits
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Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
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Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
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Two key stories on The Hill right now:
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Opinions related to tech submitted to The Hill:
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You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!
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