Social media company Reddit detects suspected Russian disinformation campaign ahead of U.K. elections: Reddit announced that it found evidence of a Russian disinformation campaign on its platform aimed at spreading classified government documents in the lead-up to this week’s election. The social media company confirmed there was a “pattern of coordination” linking a recent post about leaked U.S.-U.K. trade negotiations to a Russian disinformation campaign found earlier this year. Last week, social media analytics firm Graphika reported numerous similarities in the tactics used to distribute the classified trade-talk documents and the Russian disinformation operation, known as “Secondary Infektion,” from June. In her testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Director Laura Rosenberger underscored the importance of giving outside researchers greater access to data about activity on social media platforms, while respecting privacy considerations, as that could inform the development of strategies to address malign activity online. (Politico, Reddit, Facebook, Graphika, ASD)

NATO summit brings security concerns about 5G development, Huawei to the fore: At last week’s NATO summit in London, representatives from over a dozen nations, including Germany, France, Italy, and Denmark, discussed the challenge of safeguarding next-generation 5G technology. President Trump called attention to the “security dangers” posed by Chinese telecom firm Huawei, echoing concerns raised by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier that week. In a message to EU allies, Secretary Pompeo also argued that efforts to secure 5G networks must go beyond preventing any one company from building them, and he urged member states to establish national standards to address potential threats to privacy, safety, and intellectual property, among others. Fellow for Emerging Technologies Lindsay Gorman outlined concrete steps NATO countries can take to secure next-generation technologies, including by counting trusted 5G spending towards 2-percent targets, conducting joint risk assessments, and pursuing cooperative business models. (CNBC, Reuters, Politico.eu, Defense One)

In other news:

● Following a classified briefing from the Department of Homeland Security’s top cybersecurity official, senators on both sides of the aisle warned of the growing threat of ransomware cyberattacks targeting small businesses and state and local governments.

● The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will soon consider a bill, the Defending American Security from Kremlin Aggression Act, that would impose new sanctions on Russia for its continued aggression against Ukraine and for interfering in U.S. elections.

● The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers any mobile app or similar product developed in Russia, such as FaceApp, to be a potential counterintelligence threat, based on the data it collects, and the legal mechanisms available to the Kremlin that allow access to all data within Russia’s borders.

● Facebook raised the idea of labeling political ads on its platform to Democratic and Republican campaign operatives, according to reporting by the Washington Post.

● Twitter will update its global privacy policy to provide users with more information about what advertisers might be able to access, and will also create a privacy center to centralize its data protection efforts.

● Vice President of the European Commission, Vĕra Jourová, said platforms must do more to prevent the spread of manipulation campaigns online, while society also needs to learn more about how algorithms function.