Fake news and fabricated profiles: how an underground company from Israel rigged elections in several countries

A clandestine Israeli company that is an expert in managing social networks was used to

, especially in Africa, but also in other cases in Mexico and Spain.

It was revealed by an international group of investigative journalists, in a series of media outlets in different countries.

The company, without legal existence, called "Team Jorge" by journalists, following the pseudonym of one of its managers, Tal Hanan, is made up

, according to information revealed on Wednesday by the

.

Three journalists from the group posed as possible clients to collect information for several months about "Team Jorge." 

The structure claims to have

at the presidential level," reported Radio France, where one of the infiltrated journalists works.

Former Israeli special forces agent Tal Hanan leads the clandestine team that rigged elections.

Photo: The Guardian

Former spies dedicated themselves to spreading

and influence the outcome.

Of these 33 campaigns, another official told insiders, "two-thirds (took place) in Anglophone and Francophone Africa, 27 were successful."

Manipulation in Mexico and Spain

In Mexico, the company would have intervened on behalf of Tomás Zerón, a former official of that country investigated for the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, says the Forbidden Stories website.

Zerón, head of the Criminal Investigation Agency from 2013 to 2016, is accused of kidnapping, torture and manipulation of evidence in the case of the disappearance of the young people from Ayotzinapa (in the state of Guerrero).

Implicated in the acquisition of the Pegasus spy program by the Mexican authorities, Zerón is currently a fugitive in Israel, which rejects his extradition.

The group led by former spy Tal Hanan rigged elections in more than 30 countries.

Photo: The Guardian

And in Spain, "Team Jorge" would have intervened in the referendum, not recognized by the Spanish government, organized by the Catalan separatists in 2014, adds Radio France.

For its activities, the company developed "for six years a digital platform", AIMS, which allowed it to create countless

and above all, activate and feed them, explains the group of researchers.

At the beginning of January 2023, the system exploited 39,213 false profiles, "consultable in a kind of catalogue."

In it there are "avatars of all ethnicities, nationalities, genders, single or in a couple... Their faces are portraits of real people taken from the internet, and their patronymics, the combination of thousands of surnames and first names stored in a database ", according to Radio France.

"To demonstrate the effectiveness of one of his tools, Jorge seized control of the messaging systems of several high-level African officials. 'We're in,' he told reporters who saw two Gmail accounts, a Google Drive and a directory, as well like a series of Telegram accounts," says Forbidden Stories.

Once infiltrated into the systems, Jorge could "pretend to be the owner and have exchanges with his contacts," add those responsible for the investigation.

The company can also carry out

in decision-making processes or journalists, on behalf of its clients.

Forbidden Stories ("forbidden stories") is a network of investigative journalists created in 2017. It is this consortium that uncovered the scandal of the Israeli spy program Pegasus in 2021.

Source: AFP

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