Article Summary –
Last year, Israel organized and funded an influence campaign targeting U.S. lawmakers and the American public with pro-Israel messaging during the war in Gaza, according to officials and related documents. The campaign, commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and conducted by Tel Aviv-based political marketing firm Stoic, used hundreds of fake accounts on various social media platforms to post pro-Israel comments, utilizing artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, to generate many of these posts. Despite denials from Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, these covert efforts aimed at swaying American opinion during the war were confirmed by four current and former members of the ministry, with related documents, as well as through identification and disruption by Meta, OpenAI, and Israeli misinformation watchdog, FakeReporter.
Israel’s Influence Campaign Towards US Lawmakers and Citizens
Last year, Israel reportedly paid for an influence campaign targeted at U.S. lawmakers and citizens, delivering pro-Israel messaging to foster support for the Gaza war. This covert operation was planned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs which commissioned the Tel Aviv-based political marketing firm Stoic, investing about $2 million into the operation, according to four officials.
The campaign primarily used fake accounts posing as American citizens on Facebook and Instagram, focusing on U.S. lawmakers, especially Black Democrats like Representative Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Raphael Warnock. The AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, generated many of the pro-Israel posts and the operation also presented three fabricated English news sites advocating for Israel.
Misinformation watchdog FakeReporter identified the operation in March. In last week’s reports, both Meta and OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, confirmed they had found and interrupted the operation. This campaign indicates the lengths Israel was willing to go to influence American public opinion on the Gaza war, in the face of growing domestic opposition to the U.S.’s support for Israel.
Israel’s Unprecedented Influence Operation
This operation marks the first documented case of the Israeli government orchestrating a campaign to sway the U.S. government. While coordinated government-backed campaigns are commonplace, they are typically challenging to prove and are often veiled by using private companies or third-party countries. The campaign was called reckless and ineffective by Achiya Schatz, executive director of FakeReporter.
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs denied any involvement in the campaign and Stoic did not respond to requests for comment. Meta and OpenAI reported that the campaign didn’t have a widespread impact. However, FakeReporter found that the fake accounts accrued over 40,000 followers across multiple platforms.
Inside the Influence Operation
The operation, which began in October, saw dozens of Israeli tech start-ups receiving invitations to join urgent meetings to become “digital soldiers” for Israel. These fake accounts targeted more than a dozen members of Congress. Some of the accounts responded to posts by Representative Ritchie Torres, a pro-Israel Democrat, and posted comments about antisemitism on college campuses and in major U.S. cities.
The campaign also created three fake news sites which stole and reworked material from outlets like CNN and The Wall Street Journal to promote Israel’s stance during the war. The effort was often sloppy, with profile pictures not matching the personas and posts using stilted language. In some cases, accounts with profile photos of Black men posted about being a “middle-aged Jewish woman.”
Last week, Meta and OpenAI released reports attributing the influence campaign to Stoic, resulting in the removal of numerous Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to the operation. Stoic had created fictional personas and biographies for real people on social media services to post anti-Islamic messages. Many of the posts are still active on certain platforms.
In a LinkedIn post, Stoic previously touted its ability to run AI-backed campaigns but removed those posts recently.
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