Disinformation Trends
MONITORING SNAPSHOT 9
21 January – 3 February, 2025
SUMMARY
DFRLab conducts a bimonthly analysis of data based on a search query including Ukrainian, Russian and English languages to identify when spikes of CBRN disinformation narratives are spreading. This report (21 January–3 February, 2025) saw no significant chemical weapon narratives; at the same time there was a wave of claims about alleged Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) drone attacks against Smolensk nuclear power plant (NPP); re-emerging speculation about Ukraine receiving nuclear weapons; new claim about Ukraine’s potential development of nuclear weapons or a “dirty bomb” based on seismic activity in Chernivtsi, Ukraine; an ongoing number of claims about biolabs in Ukraine; and developing narratives about US funded bioweapon development, including in Ukraine.
BIOLOGICAL DISINFORMATION:
Continued narrative of US-funded biolabs in Ukraine
RADIOLOGICAL AND NUCLEAR DISINFORMATION:
Claims about alleged AFU drone attacks against Smolensk NPP in Russia and claims about development of nuclear weapons in Ukraine
EXAMPLES OF DISINFORMATION NARRATIVE TRENDS
Biological Disinformation
- Ongoing claims about biolabs in Ukraine
Sources: Telegram; Twitter/X
IDENTIFYING DISINFORMATION TRENDS
The Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction (GP) is committed to strengthening WMD disarmament and nonproliferation efforts. Disinformation campaigns significantly undermine cooperative threat reduction efforts. The GP Counter WMD Disinformation Initiative aims to track ongoing narratives, understand their impacts and counter state-sponsored or state-adjacent disinformation across Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) threats.
Narrative Trend Monitoring: As part of the GP efforts to identify, understand, and mitigate hostile CBRN disinformation, the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) conducts a bimonthly search query of state-sponsored or state-adjacent disinformation narratives. This real-time detection allows the initiative to swiftly recognize, isolate and respond to disinformation narratives and networks as they occur.
Methodology: This snapshot report is created from a search query that includes content in Ukrainian, Russian, and English languages, providing an extended search base and corpus of analysis and scale. The focus of the query is centered around CBRN–related messages about the Russian War on Ukraine on social media platforms and online news websites. The report provides examples of notable messages that are likely to include disinformation or key discussions that might be used in mis/disinformation in the future.
Disclaimer: Links are provided for published news sources of official state accounts; links to private accounts are excluded for privacy preservation reasons.