Cold War Daily

Some ideas about defending Australia’s information space have been organised by the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue.

There is a lot to go through in the report about “how Australia can use all tools of statecraft in the information environment”.

For me, one of the most interesting points, is the call for the government to explicitly back diaspora communities that find themselves targeted by the regimes running their countries of origin.

“Australian intelligence and security organisations should also work more closely with other government bodies to strengthen the capacity to provide tangible and rapid support to Australian citizens targeted by malicious foreign actors…”

“One consultee gave the example of Australian citizens targeted online by the Iranian regime. Interference in Australia’s Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Rwandan, Sudanese communities has been well-documented and is likely to keep increasing.”

“This targeting can include repeated and persistent online threats of physical violence to individuals and their families, false accusations of criminal activity, persistent dehumanising language and the hacking of citizens’ computers.”

The paper [disclosure: I am a participant in the consultation process] suggests a kind of backstopping of these communities, which is interesting for two reasons.

The first reason: the solution is not necessarily about debunking, blocking or removing information from the internet, or even relying on social media platform for cooperation. Having the government backstop these diaspora communities could potentially result in the creation of more information – specifically, information to counter authoritarian narratives.

This itself is a small departure from the prevailing convention around “fighting disinfo”.

The second reason is that such a solution more explicitly addresses the unfortunate logic of many authoritarian regimes. Appeals to reason and better angels (that is, the liberal appeal) don’t work as well as persistence and resolve when dealing with authoritarian regimes.

The report can be found here.