Launch Event: Hacking Minds and Machines Report

The report “Hacking Minds and Machines. Foreign Interference in the Digital Era” was officially launched at an online LinkedIn discussion on October 10, 2024. The event featured three of the authors who presented their chapters: Dr. Rumena Filipova of IGA, Dr. Ivana Karásková, Founder and Project Leader of MapInfluenCE, and Dr. Patryk Pawlak, Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, as well as Dr. Nad’a Kovalčíková, Senior Analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies, who moderated the event.

The discussion focused on the key manifestations and mechanisms of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) across country cases, including Russia’s weaponization of protests and social movements in Bulgaria, Chinese pressure on oppositional political figures in Czechia and cybersecurity attacks in Albania. Major conclusions encompassed the importance of identifying the internal and external nexus of FIMI as well as implementing a whole-of-society and whole-of-government approach to countering disinformation.