"Chinese influence operations and disinformation campaigns" with Jasper Hewitt

This week we spoke with DoubleThink Lab’s Jasper Hewitt as we explored the new forms of digital propaganda. We discussed spamouflage operations in the US elections to AI influencers pushing state lines on TikTok.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday May 8th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

DoubleThink Lab website: https://doublethinklab.org/

DoubleThink Lab medium: https://medium.com/doublethinklab

What is FIMI: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/beyond-disinformation-what-fimi_en

Graphika on spamouflage: https://graphika.com/reports/spamouflage/

US report from VOA and DoubleThink Lab: https://medium.com/doublethinklab/doublethink-lab-and-voice-of-america-us-election-joint-observation-mission-final-report-d5f2dae85e27

Ben Nimmo, the breakout scale: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-breakout-scale-measuring-the-impact-of-influence-operations/

Single File chrome extension: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/singlefile/mpiodijhokgodhhofbcjdecpffjipkle?hl=en&pli=1

Bellingcat auto archiver: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/09/22/preserve-vital-online-content-with-bellingcats-auto-archiver-tool/

Patriotism for sale: https://medium.com/doublethinklab/patriotism-for-sale-wechat-channels-information-ecosystem-5c6a0f7c6358

DFR Lab: https://dfrlab.org/

Wenhao substack: https://wenhao.substack.com/

Discourse Power substack: https://discoursepower.substack.com/