A secret social media influence campaign that attempted to lobby US lawmakers to support Israel’s war on Gaza was organized and funded by the Israeli government, The New York Times reports.
According to the Times, Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs earmarked around $2 million for the campaign, which used hundreds of fake accounts impersonating made up people to target US lawmakers. The accounts posed as Americans and posted pro-Israel messages, calling on members of congress to fund Israeli military operations. The campaigns used OpenAI’s ChatGPT to produce the posts and targeted several Black Democrats, like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment. The Times reports that the office denied involvement in the campaign. The Times says details of the network of accounts came from internal documents and individuals involved in the campaign.
The covert influence campaign was one of the efforts disrupted by Meta, according to its quarterly threat report issued at the end of May. In the report, Meta said it had identified a network of more than 500 fake accounts traced to Israel that posted pro-Israel messages on Instagram and Facebook. Meta noted that the campaign’s accounts impersonated local Jewish students, African Americans, and “concerned” citizens and left messages on the pages of legitimate news organizations and public figures. The topics of the comments included campus antisemitism, calls to release hostages taken during Hamas’ October 7th attack, and anti-Islam material. OpenAI similarly reported it had disrupted a campaign in Israel using its tools. At the time, it wasn’t known that the Israeli government was behind the campaign. The campaign remains active on X, according to the Times.
Political actors regularly try to manipulate public opinion using coordinated campaigns on social media. In May, TikTok reported it had disrupted more than a dozen such campaigns on its platform, including one originating in China. But the Times notes this is the first time the Israeli government has been found to be coordinating a campaign targeting the US government.
Like the war in Ukraine, social media has become a proxy battleground since October 7th, where Israelis and Palestinians have tried to garner support from digital bystanders. More than 37,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s siege on Gaza. The US is a key ally for Israel, as well as the largest supplier of weapons to the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to address Congress sometime this summer.
