2LT International News

WEST JERUSALEM, Israel – A network of several hundred fake social media accounts promoting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party has been uncovered by the Israeli watchdog “Big Bots Project.”

The discovery of the accounts was revealed in the Israeli national daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot on Monday.

According to a report by the newspaper’s Ronen Bergman, posts smearing Mr Netanyahu’s rivals appear frequently on the account pages, which have been set up on Twitter and Facebook.

Campaign advertisements promoting Mr Netanyahu and Likud are also being re-posted on the accounts,

Post replies by Likud members, and particularly of Mr Netanyahu’s son, Yair, feature prominently.

“The network operates through manipulations, slander, lies and spreading rumors,” the report said. “On its busiest days, the network sends out thousands of tweets.”

The watchdog said it had not established a direct link between the operators of the accounts and Mr Netanyahu or his son, or any member or worker of Likud.

It did say however “the accounts appeared to operate in coordination with the party and Mr. Netanyahu’s re-election campaign.”

The report said the accounts were very active at the time Mr Netanyahu’s indictment was announced.

The main findings of the report were:

– The network consists of hundreds of fake accounts carrying fake names and profile pictures

– On peak events, the network shared thousands of tweets a day in favor of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Likud. It is clear that the network was most active during key times, such as the publication of the indictment against he prime minister, his interview on Channel 12, and the launch of the ‘Blue and White’ campaign

– Experts estimate there are over 2.5 million exposures to the network’s posts among Israeli citizens- The content distributed by the network includes accusations of rape, spreading lies, cruel personal attacks on politicians and public figures, and incitement against entire populations

– According to suspicions, one of the network’s activists is Yitzhak Hadad, who admitted in a recorded conversation that he is an undercover activist in the initiative “with a lot of money” in favor of the right, and that he is in contact with senior Likud members

“All of the Likud’s digital activity is entirely authentic and is based on the great support of the citizens of Israel for Prime Minister Netanyahu and the great achievements of the Likud,” a spokesperson for the Likud said on Sunday. 

The upcoming elections in Israel, on 9 April  2019, have found election officials and the general public unprepared for online manipulation and disinformation, according to the Center for Cyber Law & Policy. “Digital tools, such as bots, faked accounts, deep fake and fake news (“bots), are deployed to create a false sense of legitimacy, to manipulate users in ways which are unfamiliar to them, and to stir political strife. Bots may skew democratic discourse, and may destabilize the legitimacy of the political process as a whole,” says the center.

“Reform initiatives to regulate the use of political bots (i.e., requiring campaigns to identify the speakers and to clearly indicate when they are not human), have only reached preliminary legislative stages. In a recent decree, the Chairman of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, has extended existing elections propaganda law, which prohibits anonymous political publications, to content posted online,” the center said.