Nonprofit watchdog says hundreds of real and fake social media accounts were deployed to boost Netanyahu’s election chances.
By Ruth Eglash Ruth Eglash Reporter covering Israel and the Palestinian territories Email Bio Follow April 1 at 11:34 AM JERUSALEM — When Ziv Knobler arrived at work Monday, he said he was surprised to find an image of his Twitter account featured in a dramatic front-page story in the main Israeli daily, Yediot Aharonot.The story described how Knobler is part of a network of social media accounts — real and fake — deployed to bolster Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election campaign.
Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party quickly released a campaign video mocking the report, and Netanyahu brought a man he said was one of the bots — “Captain George,” whose real name he said was Giora — to a news conference in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon. Speaking to The Washington Post, Yuval Adam, one of the report’s authors, said that specific accounts being real was not the issue.
Adam and his partner, Noam Rotem, estimated that more than 2.5 million Israeli citizens, in a country of just under 9 million, were exposed to the online messaging. At least some of the social media accounts received payment to disseminate propaganda for the Likud Party and against rival parties, they said.
“Did you read Yedioth Aharonot? They’re calling you, Likud voters, bots. … They won’t believe how many bots there are in Likud, there were 985,405 Likud voters in 2015. Voting slip after voting slip. Likud. Likud. Likud. On the 9th of April, the bots will flock to the polls,” declares the video.
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