My interest is attention.
Its manipulation, commodification, and use as a weapon.
I regularly write and speak on topics relating to US defense policy, information warfare, and AI. I work to increase the accountability and transparency of large technology companies, and more recently to ensure that the AI revolution advances the public interest.
From 2019 to 2026, I served as resident senior fellow and then a director of the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, where I led efforts to identify and disrupt hostile state influence operations. From 2022 to 2023, I served as cyber policy advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the US Department of Defense. I am the coauthor of LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media (2018).
I try to take a long view of technological developments. Things can always get weirder or worse. Indeed, they often do both.
FEATURED
Exploitable by Design: Social Media and the AdTech Threat
Argues unregulated ad-targeting, not the platforms, let Russia’s 2015-2017 Facebook campaign reach 126 million Americans for about $100,000, and that Congress banning TikTok while letting the Honest Ads Act die every session since 2017 is a double standard, not a security policy.
IN THE NEWSALL MENTIONS →
“US BETTING FIRM SPONSORSHIPS SPARK ELECTION INTEGRITY FEARS.”
“KALSHI AND POLYMARKET CRACK DOWN ON PAID INFLUENCERS CLAIMING ELECTION FRAUD.”
“WITH VIRAL ‘LEGO’ VIDEOS, IRAN STAKES CLAIM AS A PROPAGANDA POWER PLAYER.”
“TROLLING, MEMES, AND DEEPFAKES: HOW AI IS THICKENING THE FOG OF WAR.”
“« SI ON PARLE PLUS DES LEGO QUE DES MORTS EN IRAN, ON A UN PROBLÈME » : LE PIÈGE TENDU PAR LA PROPAGANDE DU RÉGIME DE TÉHÉRAN.”
“„SLOPAGANDA”: RĂZBOIUL INFORMAȚIONAL DINTRE IRAN ȘI STATELE UNITE.”
“IRAN’S AI MEMES ARE REACHING PEOPLE, AND WINNING THE PROPAGANDA WAR.”
“THESE MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS SITES ARE ACTUALLY U.S. GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA OPERATIONS.”“INSIDE IRAN'S LATEST PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN.”
“IRAN'S PROPAGANDA MACHINE TROLLS TRUMP.”
“TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS ‘BASED ON DISINFORMATION.’ EXPERTS SAY ITS INFLUENCE OPERATIONS GO FAR BEYOND THAT..”
“TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS A COUNTRY ‘BASED ON DISINFORMATION.’ HERE’S HOW IRAN CONDUCTS INFLUENCE OPS.”
“ACTORES ESTATALES ESTÁN DETRÁS DE GRAN PARTE DE LA DESINFORMACIÓN VISUAL SOBRE LA GUERRA EN IRÁN.”
“SECRET US CYBER OPERATIONS SHIELDED 2024 ELECTION FROM FOREIGN TROLLS, BUT NOW THE TRUMP ADMIN HAS GUTTED PROTECTIONS.”
“X'S NEW LOCATION FEATURE SPARKS CONTROVERSY, BUT IS THE DATA RELIABLE?.”
“YOUTUBE’S RIGHT-WING STARS FUEL BOOM IN POLITICALLY CHARGED ADS.”
“HOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS CHANGING THE NARRATIVE OF THE ISRAEL-GAZA WAR.”“WHAT DO SOME RESEARCHERS CALL DISINFORMATION? ANYTHING BUT DISINFORMATION.”“RUSSIA LEVERAGES KIRK SHOOTING FOR PROPAGANDA AS FALSE CLAIMS SURGE.”
“KIRK SHOOTING VIDEOS SPREAD ONLINE, EVEN TO VIEWERS WHO DIDN'T WANT TO SEE THEM.”
“DARIA BIGNARDI: BELLA CIAO, DALLE MONDINE AI VIDEOGIOCHI.”
“THE POLICE FOUND MESSAGES AFTER KIRK’S KILLING. WHAT THEY MEAN IS UNCLEAR..”
“CHARLIE KIRK: MENSAGENS EM BALAS COM GÍRIAS DE JOGOS E REFERÊNCIAS DA INTERNET CONFUNDEM LEITURA SOBRE MOTIVAÇÃO DO CRIME.”
“VIDEOS OF CHARLIE KIRK’S SHOOTING SPREAD RAPIDLY ON SOCIAL MEDIA.”
“CHARLIE KIRK’S SHOOTING VIDEO SPREADS ON SOCIAL MEDIA: HOW GOOGLE-OWNED YOUTUBE, ELON MUSK’S X AND FACEBOOK REACTED.”“A NEW LOOK AT HOW BOTS SHAPE SOCIAL MEDIA.”
“ODNI-SHAKEUP: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ORDERS MAJOR CUTS TO US INTELLIGENCE OFFICE AS 40% STAFF AXED; $700 MILLION BUDGET SLASHED.”“AS IRAN AND ISRAEL FOUGHT, PEOPLE TURNED TO AI FOR FACTS. THEY DIDN'T FIND MANY.”
“HOW ELON MUSK'S FAVORITE NEWS INFLUENCER IS CAPITALIZING ON HIS CLOUT.”
“EL ‘SIGNALGATE’ SACUDE A LA CÚPULA TRUMPISTA.”“TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CUTS TEAMS THAT FIGHT FOREIGN ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”“THE US IS CALLING OUT FOREIGN INFLUENCE CAMPAIGNS FASTER THAN EVER.”
“HOW ELON MUSK’S X ACCOUNT DOMINATES THE PLATFORM AHEAD OF THE ELECTION.”“ON THE 2024 US ELECTION AND ONLINE MISINFORMATION.”
“HOW META DISTANCED ITSELF FROM POLITICS.”
“HOW THE KREMLIN MIGHT GET PAST RT BANS TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE.”
“HOW TRUMP’S PET-EATING CLAIM BECAME A MEME FOR RIGHT AND LEFT ALIKE.”
“RUSSIAN TROLLING 2.0: HOW THE KREMLIN SHIFTED TACTICS FROM ITS 2016 ELECTION STRATEGY.”“ELON MUSKS GROK IS A RISKY EXPERIMENT IN AI CONTENT MODERATION.”“CONSPIRACIES FOLLOWED TRUMP’S ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT. RUSSIA TOOK NOTE..”“RUSSIA'S PROPAGANDA BOOSTS AMERICAN VOICES IN EFFORT TO SHOW A DIVIDED COUNTRY.”
“DONALD TRUMP WAS SHOT. THEN THE CONSPIRACY THEORIES SPREAD..”“TRUMP SHOOTING INFLAMED AN ALREADY DIVIDED NATION. CAN AMERICA TURN DOWN THE HEAT?.”“TRAS RECONFIGURAR TWITTER, ELON MUSK SE CONVIERTE EN UN PUENTE ENTRE CONSERVADORES DE EE.UU. Y LA EXTREMA DERECHA MUNDIAL.”
“LUXURY YACHTS AND OTHER MYTHS: HOW REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS ECHO RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA.”“GROWING NUMBER OF APPS HELP AUTOMATE PRO-ISRAEL ACTIVISM ONLINE.”“DENIAL OF THE OCT. 7 HAMAS ATTACK ON ISRAEL IS SPREADING.”“EVALUATING SOCIAL MEDIA'S ROLE IN THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR.”“HOW ONLINE FIGHTS AFFECT REAL WORLD BATTLEFIELDS.”
“CIVILIAN DEATHS ARE BEING DISMISSED AS 'CRISIS ACTORS' IN GAZA AND ISRAEL.”
“HOW MUSK’S X IS FAILING TO STEM THE SURGE OF MISINFORMATION ABOUT ISRAEL AND GAZA.”“WHY BIN LADEN’S LETTER WENT VIRAL ON TIKTOK.”“MISINFORMATION ABOUT ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR SPREADING RAMPANTLY.”
“X CIRCULATING ‘ILLEGAL CONTENT’ ON ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT, EU WARNS MUSK.”
“VIDEO GAME CLIPS AND OLD VIDEOS ARE FLOODING SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT ISRAEL AND GAZA.”
“ELON MUSK’S X ADDS TO FOG OF WAR AT OUTSET OF ISRAEL-HAMAS CONFLICT.”
“ELON MUSK UNDER FIRE AFTER RECOMMENDING ANTI-SEMITIC TWITTER ACCOUNT TO FOLLOW ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR.”
“THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR IS DROWNING X IN DISINFORMATION.”
“ELON MUSK PROMOVE INFORMAÇÕES FALSAS SOBRE GUERRA EM ISRAEL NO X.”“EMERSON T. BROOKING ON SOCIAL MEDIA & DISINFORMATION.”
“RAPPER ARRESTED IN HIGHLAND PARK SHOOTING DEPICTED VIOLENCE IN VIDEO.”“TECH CRITICS LINKED THE UVALDE SHOOTING TO SOCIAL MEDIA. THE CONNECTION APPEARS THIN..”“THE BUFFALO SHOOTING SUSPECT'S ONLINE FOOTPRINT PROMPTS QUESTIONS ABOUT RED FLAGS.”
“ONLY 22 PEOPLE SAW THE BUFFALO SHOOTING LIVE. MILLIONS HAVE SEEN IT SINCE..”“MUSK RESTORING TRUMP TO TWITTER COULD PRESSURE FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE.”“WHY RUSSIA JUST CAN'T QUIT YOUTUBE.”
“ANALYSIS | THE FATE OF LAWMAKERS’ TECH ANTITRUST PUSH MAY HINGE ON ONE BILL.”“THE DAILY MONEY: WILL ELON ALLOW TRUMP, EXTREMISTS BACK ON TWITTER?.”
“ELON MUSK JOINS TWITTER, PROMISES ‘SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS’.”
“ROBERT MALONE SPREADS FALSEHOODS ABOUT VACCINES. HE ALSO SAYS HE INVENTED SOME..”
“HOW WAR IN UKRAINE ROILED FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM.”
“HOW UKRAINIANS ARE USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO STIR RESISTANCE.”“ANALYSIS | SOCIAL MEDIA WASN’T READY FOR THIS WAR. IT NEEDS A PLAN FOR THE NEXT ONE..”“A CONVERSATION WITH JESSICA BRANDT AND EMERSON BROOKING ON THE INFORMATION WARS IN THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE.”“LACKING OVERSIGHT, TELEGRAM THRIVES IN UKRAINE DISINFORMATION BATTLE.”“RUSSIA INVADED UKRAINE. THEN SPOTIFY USERS BOMBARDED THE MUSIC SCENE WITH VIOLENT, PRO-WAR MESSAGES.”“RUSSIA STEPS UP ITS DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN.”
“THE UKRAINIAN LEADER WHO IS PUSHING SILICON VALLEY TO STAND UP TO RUSSIA.”“‘I’LL STAND ON THE SIDE OF RUSSIA’: PRO-PUTIN SENTIMENT SPREADS ONLINE.”
“RACISTS AND TALIBAN SUPPORTERS HAVE FLOCKED TO TWITTER’S NEW AUDIO SERVICE AFTER EXECUTIVES IGNORED WARNINGS.”
“TIKTOK DRAMA CHANNELS ARE TURNING INTO ONLINE INTELLIGENCE AGENTS.”
“TWITTER PHOTO-REMOVAL POLICY AIMED AT IMPROVING PRIVACY SPARKS CONCERNS OVER MISUSE.”
“JACK DORSEY’S LEGACY IN WASHINGTON: POLARIZING CALLS AND HISTORIC SCRUTINY.”“TWITTER BANS SHARING OF PRIVATE PEOPLE'S PHOTOS, VIDEOS WITHOUT CONSENT.”“AFGHANISTAN TALIBAN LONG HAVE USED TWITTER, WHATSAPP AS PROPAGANDA, GOVERNANCE TOOLS.”“THE TECHNOLOGY 202: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE FACE HIGH-STAKES QUESTION OF WHETHER TO RECOGNIZE TALIBAN.”
“MAGA SOCIAL MEDIA HAS AN ISIS PROBLEM.”
“WHAT HAPPENED WHEN DONALD TRUMP WAS BANNED ON SOCIAL MEDIA.”“TWITTER UPS EFFORTS TO STOP MISINFORMATION, LABELING FALSEHOODS RELATED TO COVID-19 VACCINE.”
“APOIADORES DE TRUMP E EXTREMISTAS SE ESPALHARAM POR OUTRAS REDES APÓS O VETO DO FACEBOOK E TWITTER.”
“CLUBHOUSE'S RISING POPULARITY RAISES MISINFORMATION CONCERNS.”
“TRUMP SCRAMBLES TO FIND NEW SOCIAL NETWORK AFTER TWITTER BAN, AS WHITE HOUSE PREPARES TO BLAST BIG TECH.”“FACEBOOK BANS PRESIDENT TRUMP FROM POSTING FOR THE REST OF HIS PRESIDENCY.”
“THE TECHNOLOGY 202: GEORGIA RUNOFFS PROVIDE CRITICAL TEST FOR TECH COMPANIES ON ELECTION FRAUD CLAIMS.”“'SIGNIFICANT AND GROWING PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGE,' TWITTER CRACKS DOWN ON COVID-19 VACCINE MISINFORMATION.”“'WE ARE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVES,' DIRE WARNINGS OF PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS AS COVID VACCINE MISINFORMATION RAGES.”
“THE TECHNOLOGY 202: TRUMP IS TURNING TO TRADITIONAL MEDIA TO AMPLIFY FALSE CLAIMS AS TWITTER CRACKS DOWN.”“WERE QANON SUPPORTERS A FORCE BEHIND TRUMP'S 'RED WAVE' IN 2020 ELECTION?.”“PENNSYLVANIA EMERGES AS ONLINE MISINFORMATION HOT SPOT.”“HUNTER BIDEN'S EMAILS ARE NOT LIKE WIKILEAKS (10/30/20) FT/ EMERSON T. BROOKING.”“FOX NEWS IS COVERING HUNTER BIDEN CLAIMS MORE THAN 2016 WIKILEAKS EMAILS.”“TRUMP BELIEVES QANON CLAIM IT'S FIGHTING PEDOPHILES, REFUSES TO DISAVOW EXTREMIST CONSPIRACY THEORY.”“SAVE THE CHILDREN? EXTREMIST CONSPIRACY MOVEMENT QANON FABRICATES PEDOPHILE CLAIMS AGAINST JOE BIDEN AS ELECTION LOOMS.”
“THE TECHNOLOGY 202: KIM KARDASHIAN WEST, OTHER CELEBRITIES WON’T BE POSTING ON INSTAGRAM TODAY.”“HOW QANON AND OTHER DARK FORCES ARE RADICALIZING AMERICANS AS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC RAGES AND ELECTION LOOMS.”
“WHO CAUSED THE VIOLENCE AT PROTESTS? IT WASN’T ANTIFA..”
“FOX NEWS REMOVES MANIPULATED IMAGES FROM COVERAGE OF SEATTLE PROTESTS.”“US PROTESTS OVER FLOYD'S KILLING A 'PERFECT STORM' FOR FALSE INFO.”
“DONALD TRUMP'S UGLY BREAKUP.”“DIGITAL EDITS, A PAID ARMY: BLOOMBERG IS 'DESTROYING NORMS' ON SOCIAL MEDIA.”“THE CYBERSECURITY 202: NEVADA OFFICIALS INTEND TO USE GOOGLE FORMS IN UPCOMING CAUCUSES.”
“FACEBOOK DISABLES NEW ATTEMPTS BY MALICIOUS RUSSIAN AND IRANIAN ACTORS TO MANIPULATE USERS.”
“THE MAN BEHIND THE RIGHT WING’S FAVORITE CONSPIRACY THEORIES.”
“SAUDI TWITTER SPIES: HOW EASY IS IT FOR GOVERNMENT AGENTS TO SPY ON YOU ONLINE?.”
“PÁGINA QUINCE: LA BATALLA VIRTUAL CONTRA EL ESTADO ISLÁMICO.”“POURQUOI LES « LIKES » SONT LE NOUVEAU NERF DE LA GUERRE.”
“RIGHT-WING STING GROUP PROJECT VERITAS IS BREAKING FACEBOOK’S “AUTHENTIC BEHAVIOR” RULE. NOW WHAT?.”
“8CHAN, A NEXUS OF RADICALIZATION FOR THE POWAY AND CHRISTCHURCH SHOOTERS, EXPLAINED.”“HOMOFILIA ESTE CEA MAI PUTERNICĂ ARMĂ DE MANIPULARE PE INTERNET.”“WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE NEW WEAPON IN MODERN WARFARE.”“HOW TRUMP, ISIS AND RUSSIA HAVE MASTERED THE INTERNET AS A WEAPON.”
“THE US USED TO BE A LEADER IN PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE. BUT AS OTHER MILITARIES ARE WEAPONIZING SOCIAL MEDIA, THE US MILITARY IS FALLING BEHIND.”
“MUITO POUCO DO QUE ACONTECE NA INTERNET HOJE É ESPONTÂNEO, DIZ ESTRATEGISTA.”“EPISODE 32: LIKEWAR (10/22/18)FT/ EMERSON BROOKING.”“WAR ONLINE WITH EMERSON BROOKING.”
“FACEBOOK REMOVES MISINFORMATION, BUT ONLY ON A TECHNICALITY.”
“A MILITARY EXPERT EXPLAINS WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE NEW BATTLEFIELD.”“THE 'WEAPONIZATION' OF SOCIAL MEDIA — AND ITS REAL-WORLD CONSEQUENCES.”
“SOCIAL MEDIA IS A WEAPON OF WAR. HOW WE USE IT IS UP TO US.”“ENCOUNTER — LIKEWAR: THE WEAPONIZATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA.”
“UNCLE SAM MAY WANT YOU FOR CYBER WAR.”“WAR GOES VIRAL, CHORE WARS, PARENT PREVIEWS.”
“OPERATION TROLL ISIS: INSIDE ANONYMOUS' WAR TO TAKE DOWN DAESH.”
“TERROR ON TWITTER.”“VIJF KEER PER UUR, MET DRIE TEGELIJK, WORDEN TWITTERAARS VAN IS OPENBAAR GEMAAKT.”“ANONYMOUS VS. ISLAMIC STATE: #OPPARIS HEATS UP AS HACKERS TARGET TERRORISTS.”“THE MEME THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO TAKE DOWN ISIS.”“A FEW GOOD TWITTER TROLLS.”
“ISIL 'HAS ALL THE MAKINGS OF A PLUSH HOLIDAY RESORT' ACCORDING TO A NEW EBOOK WRITTEN BY A BRITISH JIHADIST.”RECENT WORKALL WRITING → ALL PROJECTS →
| REACTION | Experts react: Hungary just voted out Viktor Orbán. Here’s what to expect in Europe and beyond. APR 2026 Brooking’s section, “Europe has dodged a bullet,” argued Russian intelligence had interfered extensively for Orbán through astroturfing and social-media manipulation, and that only the scale of Tisza’s landslide victory averted the political chaos Moscow and Trump-aligned Americans were positioned to exploit. | ATLANTIC COUNCIL (external) |
| REACTION | Fast Thinking: Orbán’s out in Hungary. Now what? APR 2026 Under “The losers,” Brooking reported that Russian intelligence had interfered extensively for Orbán via astroturfing and social-media manipulation; under “The aftermath,” he warned that the sixteen-year regime’s networks would likely try again despite Magyar’s decisive win. | ATLANTIC COUNCIL (external) |
| INVESTIGATION | Pravda in the Pipeline: Early Evidence of State-Adjacent Propaganda in AI Training Data APR 2026 A Common Crawl audit finds Pravda propaganda archived 40,000 times by late 2025 (up from 37 a year earlier); Llama 3.1 405B reproduced a false RT bioweapons-lab claim from the archive nearly verbatim. | DFRLAB (external) |
| REACTION | Eight ways AI will shape geopolitics in 2026 JAN 2026 Opening the roundup under “AI poisoning goes mainstream,” Brooking argued that Russia’s Pravda network, which publishes millions of articles across more than eighty countries to target AI training data rather than human readers, has already gotten its content cited in Wikipedia, X Community Notes, and chatbot answers — a problem he predicted would break into the mainstream in 2026. | ATLANTIC COUNCIL (external) |
| REACTION | In Brief: Balancing Speed and Security in Defense Communications APR 2025 Three experts on how the defense enterprise should weigh speed against security in its communications, in War on the Rocks’ members-only In Brief exchange. | WAR ON THE ROCKS (external) |
| INVESTIGATION | Cross-Platform Campaign Sows Anti-Europe Division in Moldova MAR 2025 A Telegram hub called ‘Forbidden Channel’ coordinated 4,484 fake Facebook and Telegram accounts posting 15,000+ comments to brand President Maia Sandu corrupt and cast EU integration as a threat to sovereignty. | DFRLAB (external) |
| REACTION | Your Expert Guide to the Debate Over Banning TikTok JAN 2025 Ten Atlantic Council experts split on the TikTok Supreme Court case: some cite a CCP-enabled backdoor and surveillance risk, others say the security case was never substantiated and a ban would harm the open internet. | ATLANTIC COUNCIL (external) |