An international team of journalists have revealed an Israeli spyware company's election tampering & multiple, mass disinformation campaigns on social media, utilizing thousands of fake accounts, The Guardian reports.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/NewsAndPolitics/comments/1130pne/an_international_team_of_journalists_have/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

A covert team of Israeli contractors who claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the world using hacking, sabotage and automated disinformation on social media have been exposed in a new Guardian investigation.

Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/subscribegdn

The unit is run by Tal Hanan, a former Israeli special forces operative who now works privately using the pseudonym “Jorge”. In more than six hours of secretly recorded meetings, Hanan and his team spoke of how they could gather intelligence on rivals, including by hacking Gmail and Telegram accounts.

The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://bit.ly/3uhA7zg

Sign up to the Guardian's free new daily newsletter, First Edition ► http://theguardian.com/first-edition

Website ► https://www.theguardian.com

Facebook ►https://www.facebook.com/theguardian

Twitter ► https://twitter.com/guardian

Instagram ► https://instagram.com/guardian

The Guardian on YouTube:

Guardian News ► https://bit.ly/guardiannewssubs

Guardian Australia ► https://bit.ly/guardianaussubs

Guardian Football ► https://bit.ly/gdnfootballsubs

Guardian Sport ► https://bit.ly/gdnsportsubs

Guardian Live ► https://bit.ly/guardianlivesubs

#TeamJorge #TalHanan #Investigation #Disinformation #Bots #SocialMedia #FakeProfiles #News

Articles:

The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/15/revealed-disinformation-team-jorge-claim-meddling-elections-tal-hanan

Haaretz

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2022-11-16/ty-article-static-ext/the-israelis-destabilizing-democracy-and-disrupting-elections-worldwide/00000186-461e-d80f-abff-6e9e08b10000

Previously, there was a worldwide scandal over another Israeli spyware company, NSO Group - which sold an application called Pegasus.

The Guardian - The Pegasus Project

https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/pegasus-project

Pegasus was notably used to hack the phones of Jamal Khashoggi's family members.

The Israeli government encouraged NSO Group to work with the Saudi Arabian government even in spite of knowing about the abuse of this spyware, and in spite of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

But the Israeli government encouraged NSO and two other companies to continue working with Saudi Arabia, and issued a new license for a fourth to do similar work, overriding any concerns about human rights abuses, according to one senior Israeli official and three people affiliated with the companies.

The New York Times - Israeli Companies Aided Saudi Spying Despite Khashoggi Killing

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/17/world/middleeast/israel-saudi-khashoggi-hacking-nso.html

It's possible that the Israeli government is involved in this newly reported spyware as well - since their approval was required for the licensing of Pegasus.

The Israeli Ministry of Defense must approve export licenses for NSO, which has close ties to Israel's defense and intelligence communities, to sell its technology internationally.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-us-state-department-phones-hacked-with-israeli-company-spyware-sources-2021-12-03/

https://www.timesofisrael.com/expose-unmasks-israel-led-disinformation-team-that-meddled-in-dozens-of-elections/

https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/article-731636

https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/technology/1676458888-dark-disinfo-group-operates-out-of-israel-report-claims

https://www.barrons.com/news/israeli-firm-meddled-in-more-than-30-elections-reports-791e7da6

https://rapidsave.com/info?url=/r/supportforukraine2/comments/114aipb/an_international_team_of_journalists_have/