Israel’s Ben-Gvir suspected of ties to bot network — Jerusalem Post
In Israel, the organization FakeReporter said that a coordinated network of more than 100 social media accounts had ties to a consulting company involved in the election campaign of Otzma Yehudit, the party of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. According to the Jerusalem Post, these accounts were allegedly used to spread messages against the minister’s political opponents.
Campaign targets
FakeReporter claims that the network published posts against politicians from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing bloc. Its targets reportedly included Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the Religious Zionism party, reserve brigadier general Ofer Winter, associated with the People of Israel party, as well as Channel 14.
The organization also said that some accounts used AI-generated images and fictitious identities. FakeReporter reported a link between the network’s activity and a consulting company working on the Otzma Yehudit campaign. However, no confirmation of a direct connection between this company and the management of the accounts was made public.
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Ben-Gvir and Winter’s response
Ben-Gvir’s office rejected the accusations and called FakeReporter a radical left-wing organization. The minister’s representatives also said that the organization’s sponsors have support from “foreign money” allegedly interfering in Israeli elections, but provided no evidence for this claim.
FakeReporter said it had previously identified dozens of coordinated accounts on the social network X. According to its data, about 90 users published hundreds of posts against Winter. The organization claims that the posts appeared within a short period of time, used similar wording, and that some accounts had previously shared posts supporting Ben-Gvir. According to N12, about 100 accounts were removed from X after FakeReporter’s reports.
Ofer Winter condemned reports of the alleged use of bots against him and his party. He said that Ben-Gvir should focus on fulfilling his ministerial duties, including combating crime.
