Former Israeli agents have apparently manipulated nearly three dozen elections. Their clients: power-hungry politicians and wealthy businessmen. They are part of a rapidly growing global disinformation industry in which Russia is far from the only player.
. The starting point was the joint Story Killers project, which sought to quantify the enormous scale of disinformation, propaganda and cyberattacks.
"You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe."Officials with the Office for the Protection of the Constitution , Germany's domestic intelligence agency, are alarmed."State-directed disinformation has reached menacing proportions," warns German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the center-left Social Democratic Party .
Meanwhile, the falsehood industry continues to upgrade with constantly improving tools and artificial intelligence. Neither the political world nor security authorities seem to be prepared for this global attack. "We provide tailor made services," Meidan says. Everywhere where governments are wobbling, where things could really explode if elections were to get out of hand. All the client has to do is define their goals or targets, and Team Jorge designs a suitable strategy and deploys the necessary resources and people, he says - veterans of intelligence and military services, specialists in psychological warfare, financial experts.
The fact that the leaders of Team Jorge were themselves formerly in the service of a democratically elected governments doesn't seem to bother them. There are only three rules at Team Jorge, emphasizes Nick: No assignments can be accepted in Israel or the United States, at least not in politics. And going up against Putin is off limits.In fact, the man calling himself Nick is apparently Tal Hanan's older brother Zohar. He, too, appears to have been a member of Israeli intelligence.
Throughout the purported cooperation, a number of appalling dialogues take place. For example, when Max, aka Mashy Meidan, turns to the ostensible adviser Métézeau and says:"The best for your client is to create more of a mess, more fear, more problems in the streets now." Basically, Team Jorge is proposing to foment unrest in a country to prevent orderly elections.
For a covert force like Team Jorge, remaining under the radar is critical for survival. So, steps are taken to protect that secrecy. At headquarters, visitors are required to hand in their mobile phones at the entrance. What Jorge doesn't suspect, though, is that the undercover journalists are wearing hidden cameras, which they use to record presentations and video conferences.
It's July 25, 2022, a few weeks before Kenya's presidential election. Hanan has shared his computer screen with the participants of the video meeting so that everyone can see what he's doing on his computer. He opens the folder"Kenya." A few days later, Kenyan Vice President William Ruto unexpectedly wins the election by a narrow margin. Shortly after the ballots are counted, an unprecedented disinformation campaign against the election winner begins, one that continues to this day. Election documents that appear to have been doctored are published on dubious websites, fake videos make the rounds on social media, and alleged whistleblowers emerge who later turn out to be phonies.
It thus seems clear that Israeli disinformation professionals do indeed have the ability to manipulate the accounts of prominent politicians. But it's difficult to determine whether their apparently illegal activities also had an impact on the election results in Kenya – and, if so, how much of one. Internal emails show that the two shadowy forms had been in contact for years. On September 2, 2017, for example, Hanan wrote to Alexander Nix, the head of Cambridge Analytica:"Any help we can offer in Kenya? We do know the place." Two days later, Nix writes back:"What do you suggest?" In response, Hanan sends a one-page PDF titled,"Elections Kenya," and promises:"We provide impact that resonates.
And this includes the the fact that Team Jorge even developed their own technology for manipulating social media platforms like Facebook, since they are often at the heart of covert operations. The system is called Advanced Impact Media Solutions . Hanan gushes as he presents it: A whole armada of fake profiles can be created for all kinds of internet platforms through a simple user interface. With photos of real people, pilfered from authentic profiles.
Political campaigns, propaganda on behalf of certain interests, the attempt to shift public opinion in a specific direction – all of that used to only be possible with the budgets available to secret service organizations. But today, there are social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Telegram and WhatsApp that can be used to disseminate one's message. A shadow market has developed, where manipulation and deception have become part of the standard offerings for customers willing to pay.
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