Projects — Technology and International Affairs
Partnership for Countering Influence Operations
About the Project
Influence operations are a complex threat, and the community combating them—academics, social platforms, think tanks, governments—is broad. The goal of the Partnership for Countering Influence Operations (PCIO) is to foster evidence-based policymaking to counter threats in the information environment. To do this, PCIO engaged more than 1000 stakeholders across sectors, conducting meta studies and surveys to understand who is doing what and the state of knowledge on the information environment.
Programs
Technology and International Affairs
The Technology and International Affairs Program develops insights to address the governance challenges and large-scale risks of new technologies. Our experts identify actionable best practices and incentives for industry and government leaders on artificial intelligence, cyber threats, cloud security, countering influence operations, reducing the risk of biotechnologies, and ensuring global digital inclusion.
Our Team
Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs, Director, Information Environment Project
Alicia is the director of the Information Environment Project and the author of The Information Animal: Humans, Technology and the Competition for Reality. Alicia was a technical advisor to the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder and is a founding member of its Global Cybersecurity Group.
Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons, Senior Fellow
George Perkovich is the Japan Chair for a World Without Nuclear Weapons and a senior fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Nuclear Policy Program. He works primarily on nuclear deterrence, nonproliferation, and disarmament issues, and is leading a study on nuclear signaling in the 21st century.
Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Technology and International Affairs Program
Jon Bateman is a senior fellow and co-director of the Technology and International Affairs Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Samantha Lai
Former Senior Research Analyst, Technology and International Affairs
Samantha Lai was a senior research analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Information Environment Project.
Baseline Research
The field researching and countering influence operations is growing. PCIO’s baseline research seeks to provide a common foundation on fundamental questions, including:
Community
The Influence Operations Researchers’ Guild
PCIO founded the Influence Operations Researchers’ Guild, with the aim to build an international community of investigators working to articulate standards and shared principles for their work.
The Guild is now hosted by Alliance for Europe.
Measuring Influence Operations
Evidence-based policymaking depends on measurements. But we lack robust, evidence-based measurements of influence operations’ spread, their effects, and the effectiveness of countermeasures needed to support community resilience and appropriate policy interventions.
To address this gap, PCIO and the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project at Princeton University convened three working groups with more than 40 researchers from North America, Europe, and Latin America, producing six studies. The project culminated in a Measurements Symposium with more than 60 participants from across the research community, government, and philanthropies.
Transparency and Data-Sharing
Digital platforms control their data and researchers struggle to access it for research purposes. Even when data is available, the relationship between industry and researchers is imbalanced. PCIO works with a multi-stakeholder community to develop a comprehensive transparency reporting framework, including policy ideas for regulators to ensure independence for researchers.
Thank you to our supporters
Carnegie’s Partnership for Countering Influence Operations is grateful for funding provided by the Government of Canada, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and WhatsApp. The PCIO is wholly and solely responsible for the contents of its products, written or otherwise. We welcome conversations with new donors. All donations are subject to Carnegie’s donor policy review. We do not allow donors prior approval of drafts, influence on selection of project participants, or any influence over the findings and recommendations of work they may support.