Information War In the Brazilian runoff, evangelical influencers flock to Bolsonaro In polarized Brazil, neutrality is suspicious and ‘Influencers of faith’ must deliver a point of view to their large and growing audience feature Fernanda Seavon
Soft Power Chinese government finds African scholarship students return home to tell of disturbing experiences China funds thousands of scholarships for African students to come to China, so they can tell “A good China story.” They are leaving China with a worse impression of the country than when they arrived. Is this soft power backfiring? feature Natasha Robinson
Violence between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan reveals authoritarianism’s communication paralysis Fighting on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan marks a steep jump not only in the intensity of violence but devastating distance between the countries’ digital communication skills feature Colleen Wood
Information War In Nicaragua, there are no more newspapers Journalists are either in jail or in exile, as Daniel Ortega sets about destroying the country’s independent media. And the rest of Central America is following in line. feature Isabel Bonnet
Russian trolls and mercenaries win allies and good will in Africa As French troops leave Mali to jeers, the West fears that it is leaving a vacuum that the Kremlin is eager and ready to fill explainer Shola Lawal
Information War Nigerian trolls defend the government and gaslight victims An atmosphere of mistrust stokes ethnic tensions as elections in 2023 approach feature Shola Lawal
How autocrats manipulate history to hold on to power The cynical framing of narratives about war to score patriotic points is a tactic we should guard against, even in democracies q&a Liam Scott
Information War While the deliberate lies that led to the January 6 insurrection are exposed, misinformation runs riot on social media Increased scrutiny fails to deter extremists and conspiracy theorists q&a Rebekah Robinson
Information War ‘It’s too political’: Authorities censor documentary on Georgian oligarch’s Black Sea pleasure park The abrupt decision comes amid internal political tensions triggered by the war in Ukraine q&a Katia Patin
‘I cannot hide’: Viral photos from Kashmir conflict haunt subjects for years For civilians in South Asia’s long-standing conflict, online images have grave consequences feature Zenaira Bakhsh
Brazil’s Congress fast-tracks plans to mine Indigenous land for potassium, blaming Russia sanctions ‘These conditions are going to kill us’: Indigenous Amazon communities brace for mining campaign feature Jill Langlois
Information War TikTok influencers are dancing, lip-syncing, and posing to promote Russia’s war in Ukraine Despite TikTok’s ban on uploads in Russia, influencers are using it to spread pro-war propaganda. Others are debunking it roundup Mariam Kiparoidze
Soft Power Ukraine is winning the information war in the West. What about elsewhere? The West believes Zelensky is a PR mastermind and Putin is on the backfoot. In the rest of the world, that view looks different explainer Isobel Cockerell
A photographer of Ukrainian beauty turns her lens on war to create heartbreaking juxtaposition Anna Sennik specialized in beautiful images of traditional Ukrainian national costumes. Today she and her camera are on the front lines q&a Katia Patin
Turkey’s drones had a bad reputation. The war in Ukraine has changed that Videos of Ukraine’s drone strikes have changed the narrative in favor of Turkey and Ukraine feature Ruth Michaelson