French authorities say an Israeli firm has interfered in elections in Scotland, New York, France, Angola and Togo through networks of fake social media accounts targeting politicians critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
France’s disinformation watchdog, Viginum, found that the Israel-based company BlackCore coordinated hundreds of accounts to post negative comments about Scottish First Minister John Swinney ahead of Scotland’s May parliamentary elections. Swinney, one of the few UK politicians to describe Israel’s campaign in Gaza as genocide, was a primary target, along with the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Scottish government.
According to Viginum, BlackCore used at least 256 coordinated accounts to publish around 1,400 comments between January and May. Swinney was targeted 652 times, compared with 338 mentions of the SNP and 112 of the Scottish government.
BlackCore describes itself as an influence and cyber operations company that helps governments and political campaigns shape narratives through advanced information warfare strategies.
