Israeli firm BlackCore suspected of meddling in New York and Scotland votes

https://www.reuters.com/world/israeli-firm-blackcore-also-suspected-meddling-nyc-scotland-votes-french-2026-06-11/

by pera • 1 month ago

792 320 1 month ago

Zealotux• 1 month ago

The israeli ambassador in France should already have been kicked out a while ago for a myriad of reasons, I'm ashamed my country is so spineless.

karmakurtisaani• 1 month ago

Europeans couldn't even get Israel out of a silly pop song contest, so it seems a bit hopeless to expect any actual political action.

chadgpt32• 1 month ago

Israel literally owns that contest. By what reasoning could the EU force the owner of a silly song contest to exclude their own country?

vkou• 1 month ago

Rogue states will attack Western democracy. It's a tale as old as... Well, actually, in the past few years, this one has done more on that front than all the others combined.

shevy-java• 1 month ago

Is the USA finally doing something about foreign lobbyists here? Trump is like the ultimate tool here for foreigners to gain influence, no matter the country. Yuri explained this already in the 1980s (!!!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9apDnRRSOCk (it's the KGB view, so biased too, of course, but if you extend it, then also connect it to Epstein, you have basically undermined democracy effectively; a shame Yuri is dead, he would have had a field day with "analysing" Putin).

badgersnake• 1 month ago

Nope, the war in Iran is testament to that.

RobotToaster4• 1 month ago

Nope, foreign lobbyists in the guise of AIPAC spent record amounts to primary Thomas Massie.

_DeadFred_4• 1 month ago

OP is talking about American's here. AIPAC is made of and paid for AIPAC, like other political packs or other American groups. AIPAC is just Americans, doing the American political thing.

stuaxo• 1 month ago

"Lecornu said the French government had asked Israel for explanations of BlackCore's actions, and also for help in trying to find out who may have been behind the smear campaign."

This is a very well executed bit of diplomacy.

Simon_O_Rourke• 1 month ago

Nonsense, it'll end up with merely some public head scratching and shrugs, and a "gee whiz monsieur, it sure is a mystery to us too".

Interesting that whatever they wanted to do backfired in NYC.

pera• 1 month ago

Here in Scotland it seems the desinfo campaign targeted mostly the SNP and Swinney. I guess it's hard to know how effective it was but his party lost 6 seats in last month's elections.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/26188090.john-swinney-ta...

thefz• 1 month ago

At least the French demonstrated they hold other governments accountable. Israel is shrugging off the killing of some 70k civilians, for sure they will shrug off this one too, to no one's surprise (including the French government).

brenschluss• 1 month ago

Well of course, that’s the point - it gives the French government the cover to investigate while sending Israel a soft warning.

“Israel, thank you for your cooperation, my gosh, we’re really going to get to the bottom of this” = ‘We know what you’re doing, fuck off’

ebbi2• 1 month ago

The same Israeli BlackCore that masqueraded as a humanitarian fund for Gaza and stole the money?

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2026-0...

Lowest of the low.

ebbi2• 1 month ago

Quite revealing when this comment has been getting downvoted. I guess some people support the fact that some people dishonestly raise money for a humanitarian cause and then steal that money.

miroljub• 1 month ago

BlackCore? Yeah, those are these Russians meddling in elective all over the Europe and the USA.

Matl14• 1 month ago

Last time I suggested on a similar story that there's a disproportionate number of firms in Israel with an explicit focus on subversion, manipulation, spying and malware, seemingly because a large portion of the Israeli population gain a certain expertise in these fields as part of serving in the IDF and working to suppress Palestinians, I got accused of bias because apparently there's many more Israeli startups working on medical research, green technology and world peace.

If there are, they certainly would do no harm in being more vocal, firms like BlackCore is unfortunately what Israel is becoming known for around the world.

r_lee• 1 month ago

there's not much controversy that would pull media attention in green tech or medical research

bigyabai• 1 month ago

Medical research is still plenty controversial: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Aftonbladet_Israel_contro...

inglor2• 1 month ago

Israeli here - I'll try to write this the least political as I can since I on one hand disagree strongly with the government and on the other my experience has been getting antisemstic (yes, not anti-zionist) comments whenever this gets discussed a lot (and likely downvotes but who cares I've been here 10 years and have more fake points than is important anyway).

Israel has several "cores" of technology. The military stuff is shameful (as well as other stuff). It's not just the NSOs (or less infamously the Wiz's/Palo Altos etc).

There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space. I'll spare you the long list of stuff like Mellanox that drives Nvidias in data centers and leave the googling of medtech to you. Lots of neutral stuff too.

Matl14• 1 month ago

my experience has been getting antisemstic (yes, not anti-zionist) comments whenever this gets discussed a lot

I appreciate your experience. I have no doubt there's indeed been an increase in such comments. I think it's important to note that the Israeli government does work very hard to conflate Zionism with Judaism, (which itself seems antisemitic to me), making it harder for some to separate the two.

There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space.

That's good to know, as I said in another comment, it may be time for those startups to make themselves heard more, not because they have to, but because it is in their interest if they have any expansion plans going forward, given what a poor PR the Israeli state and firms like NSO, BlackCore etc. give the Israeli tech scene.

jdw64• 1 month ago

Personally, I think you're going through a hard time. An individual and a country are different, but people do rely to some extent on the image of a country when judging an individual. I agree with your logic, so I'll give you an upvote

bradleyjg2• 1 month ago

No one has ever called me a kike or Christ killer. No one has ever accused me of controlling the media or banks. No one has spray painted a swastika on my house, or my synagogue for that matter.

My nation, the most powerful in the world, puts a menorah in its halls of government every year for Hanukkah. The legislative and judicial branches have Jewish members at the very top level. The head of government has a Jewish son-in-law.

Even online, I see much more pervasive criticism of my nation than yours.

Yet, listen to Zionists and I’m practically living in Weimar Germany. That dog won’t hunt.

People have criticisms of Israel. They may be fair or unfair. Address them on the merits and leave the rest of us out it. It has nothing to do with Jews qua Jews.

kombine2• 1 month ago

Israeli here - I'll try to write this the least political

We are more than two years into full-on genocide and you hesitate to be political? This position reminds me of many Russians who prefer to "stay out of politics" because there are "two sides" to the conflict and it's an uncomfortable topic for them.

nobodyandproud• 1 month ago

Your PM Netanyahu is a disaster. Your religious hardliners seem to love him.

Even someone neutral to sympathetic can’t help but look on in disgust at your PM and his supporters.

Edit: The point being that it tarnishes everything that Israel does, and makes fault-finding way too easy.

mhb2• 1 month ago

What is shameful about the "military stuff"? Isn't that's what is protecting you from your neighbors and their patron?

LightBug12• 1 month ago

I didn't downvote you. You're Jewish (I stand side by side with Jewish brothers and sisters against Israel), you've expressed disagreements with the Israeli government. We're likely on a similar page then.

However:

There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space.

Besides the point. I truly won't touch anything from that Apartheid, gen0cideal state.

c.f. the boycott of South Africa during Apartheid. Same principle.

gatlin3• 1 month ago

I never understood this: the Palestinian children whose family and limbs are torn from them for Israeli sport are also Semites. It seems like the ultimate erasure to claim "antisemitic" for only Jews.

HappyPanacea2• 1 month ago

Remilk is an Israeli food-tech startup using yeasts to produce milk proteins. Frankly I find your comment rather odd, why should a startup be more loud because other people are biased? Diplomacy is the job of the state. We have innovative index on which Israel does well and large number of unicorn per capita.

Matl14• 1 month ago

why should a startup be more loud because other people are biased? Diplomacy is the job of the state.

I agree with you that it is the job of the state to do diplomacy, I would argue that the Israeli state has done an extremely poor job at that, so it may be left to some of its greener industry to pick up the slack, unfortunately.

Not because they 'have to' but because they would want to if they want to expand abroad and not get overshadowed by the bad PR the Israeli state is so good at putting out.

I disagree with you that 'other people are biased'.

One of the reasons Israeli soft power is so weak at the moment is precisely because its diplomats always insist everyone is just simply biased against Israel, often invoking some thousands year old hatred of its people etc. rather than for one second introspecting on the fact that the actions of the state may indeed have something to do with that perceived bias.

It should indeed be the job of Israeli diplomats to work and promote Israel in the best light possible

ai_fry_ur_brain• 1 month ago

The Nazis did a ton of cutting edge research too.

bluealienpie2• 1 month ago

They also committed genocide as well. Surprising that even after Israeli human rights organizations acknowledge it, it still remains stuck in the mind of capitalists to support profit at any cost.

watwut• 1 month ago

Did they? Like, which exactly?

tdeck• 1 month ago

Regardless of what good things other Israeli companies might be doing, it's clear that the Israeli government doesn't have a problem with these malware / spyware companies.

trimethylpurine3• 1 month ago

Which government are you comparing to?

bugsense• 1 month ago

They actively export it. See Pegasus

bell-cot• 1 month ago

... because apparently there's many more Israeli startups working on medical research, green technology and world peace.
If there are, they certainly would do no harm in being more vocal ...

Perhaps, but - talk to someone who's done PR work for startups. Ask them what it would take for an Israeli startup working on, say, home bagel-making machines to get the sort of world-wide media attention that any Israeli creep-tech firm can get - for free - by association with a few nefarious deeds.

magic_hamster• 1 month ago

There's a lot of offensive security talent, but this has nothing to do with Palestinians. Israeli intelligence is very advanced and is why Israel has been able to eliminate the leaders of Hezbollah and Iran.

Not everything in Israel is about or related to Palestinians. The Palestinian bias only exists in circles where every thought regarding Israel is immediately evoking a Palestinian connotation. In reality, most Israelis never interact with Palestinians.

To suggest that a sector of Israeli startups exists on the experience of people "suppressing Palestinians" is definitely biased, absurd, and is a slippery slope.

Matl14• 1 month ago

There's a lot of offensive security talent, but this has nothing to do with Palestinians. Israeli intelligence is very advanced and is why Israel has been able to eliminate the leaders of Hezbollah and Iran. Not everything in Israel is about or related to Palestinians.

I would suggest to you that the focus on Iran is because Iran is perceived as being an obstacle to Israeli hegemony in the region and thus undisputed Israeli rule over Palestinian territory.

Iran also justifies its actions in terms of standing up for Palestinians.

So yes, it's very much related.

ifwinterco• 1 month ago

Everything is israel is and always will be related to palestinians in some sense because it's being done on their land

jmyeet• 1 month ago

Selling spyware and 0days is a significant industry in Israel [1]. This includes Pegasus [2][3]. Countries around the world pay Israeli companies to hack the phones of politicians, opposition leaders, union leaders, journalists and basically anyone they don't like. This is actually a common structure for intelligence agencies who are often restricted from spying domestically or on citizens. They simply farm that out to the intelligence agencies of other countries or these spyware companies. Israel has become kind of an extrajudicial cheat code. Saudi Arabia has been a big user [4]. All of this is just objective fact.

No one was officially blamed for Stuxnet years ago but it's widely believed that the US and Israel were responsible [5]. And of course we had the pager operation [6]. If anyone else had done the same, they'd be labelled as terrorists and be under economic and diplomatic sanctions.

As for BlackCore, I guess it's part of the wider story of Israel's extensive influence campaign on foreign elections and politicians. We've seen this get really overt. For example, Thomas Massie's primary was the most expensive in history when AIPAC and AIPAC affiliates spent a combined ~$35M. I actually think it's this extreme and overt because Israel has lost the PR fight and are increasingly desperate.

Another less-talked about example was the character assassination of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK, which was essentiallya Zionist takeover of the Labor Party and, lo and behold, a few years later we're locking up grandmothers indefinitely for holding up signs that say "Palestine Action" [7].

And of course we have the Jeffrey Epstein of it all where it's really obvious that Epstein was an Israeli access agent and likely Ghislaine Maxwell was as well, particularly when you look at the entire history of Robert Maxwell from WW2 to arming Jewish militias pre-1948 and the IDF after that until finally "falling off" his own yacht.

Oh and there are claims that some unidentified hacker breached the FBI's systems in 2023 and accessed files related to Jeffrey Epstein. There are claims that 500TB was destroyed and 400TB of that was recovered [8]. That's so weird.

It's depressing to me how many people support a state that is functionally the Nazi Germany of our times. Like go ahead and find me the functional distinction between Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. But also how impervious Western politicians are to public opinion on this issue, which has drastically switched in the last few years. Opposition movements are suppressed with brutal violence.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfOgm1IcBd0

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)

[3] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/8/what-you-need-to-kno...

[4] https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2021/07/the-...

[5] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-12633240

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Lebanon_electronic_device...

[7] https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250807-uk-pensioner-...

[8] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47184683

tptacek9• 1 month ago

This is just cringe conspiracy stuff. Selling CNE tooling is a business (I don't know how big you want to call it) all over the world. Israel is not a global headquarters for it.

frankohn• 1 month ago

In addition to this malware, which comes from an Israeli company and is used for the purpose of subverting democratic elections in foreign countries (we don't really know who mandated these interventions, but the target, John Swinney and fellow ministers, have been vocal in their criticism of the Israeli government's actions in Gaza and the West Bank, and have imposed a form of sanctions on the Israel Defense Forces by withholding state grants to arms firms that supply the IDF and freezing support for exports to Israel), they have also infiltrated some countries like the UK and US with very powerful pro-Israel lobbies acting behind the curtain by directly contacting prominent politicians.

In the UK, the Israeli company Elbit Systems produces arms for Israel through its British subsidiary, which holds major Ministry of Defence contracts including the Watchkeeper drone programme (worth over £800 million) and the Jupiter training system (around £130 million) – sources: UK Companies House and MoD contract notices. People protesting for Palestinians at Elbit sites have been arrested: between 2020 and June 2024, over 140 arrests were made at more than 50 actions by Palestine Action, but police and court records show that no terrorism charges were filed, and the High Court rejected a legal challenge against policing of these protests in May 2024. Two main lobbies cover both major parties in the UK: Conservative Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Israel.

In the US, a similar two‑party structure exists but with far greater financial power. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its super PAC spent over $4.5 million in the 2023–2024 election cycle, mostly to defeat progressive Democrats critical of Israel, including successfully spending $14.5 million to unseat Congressman Jamaal Bowman (source: Federal Election Commission filings). The Democratic Majority for Israel and the Republican Jewish Coalition mirror the UK's Labour and Conservative lobby groups, while the US provides Israel with roughly $3.8 billion in annual military aid – a sharp contrast to the UK's limited sanctions on the IDF. Unlike the UK, no US protester has been arrested under terrorism laws for actions against arms companies supplying Israel.

In practice, Israel and Russia do similar things: they affect or subvert foreign elections by manipulating information and social media, and they directly influence politics via foundations, think tanks, and by cultivating politicians and influencers. For Russia, this includes organisations like the Russian House in Washington and sympathetic think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation – though the Heritage Foundation is American, Russian state media and proxies have actively courted its positions.

Russia has also influenced figures like Tucker Carlson, who repeatedly echoes Kremlin talking points, and JD Vance, who has opposed military aid to Ukraine; no public evidence proves formal recruitment, but both have amplified narratives favourable to Moscow and JD Vance made a powerful endorsement of Orban, a corrupted pro-russian statesman, in the past election in Hungary.

Qem• 1 month ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_boomerang

yieldcrv• 1 month ago

IDF conscripts astroturf on social media all day, and a lot of people do the same for free on behalf of the concept of Israel

Don’t worry about the deflections and karma flagging censorship as consensus, because its not

Jewish and Jewish Israeli people are raised to be afraid of the entire world, and think losing a perception game will result in their eradication perpetuated by everyone around them. This is due to a 1,000 year history of exactly that, so I can empathize, but not at the expense of fiction. I don’t want anyone to hurt them. I want the corrosive traits in their culture to be checked and go away.

Put all those PhD’s that some people are so proud of into other pursuits.

throw310822• 1 month ago

Jewish and Jewish Israeli people are raised to be afraid of the entire world [...] This is due to a 1,000 year history of exactly that

Actually it goes way further. It seems that a large part of Jewish religion and culture is centered on the idea of being persecuted. A quick list goes from the Egyptian slavery, to the attack by the Amalekites, to the Babylonian destruction of the First Temple, to Haman's plot to exterminate Jews in Persia... and we're still at the book of Esther, 5th century BCE. The list goes on and on. Each of these is commemorated in a religious or civil ceremony: Passover, Purim, Hanukkah, etc.

This is to say, Judaism is built around grievance. And grievance in turn, if kept unchecked, is dangerous because it can justify unethical behaviours that are seen as reparatory.

smashah• 1 month ago

At this point just file it under "Tech-washing".

As if Rudolph Höss' innovations in chemical and civil engineering somehow excuse Auschwitz.

People need to start being clear about subversion and inhumanity exported from Israel and not attempt to bookkeep that against their B2B SaaS'.

This demonic rhetoric would not be valid in any other circumstance.

zby• 1 month ago

I would love to hear from someone knowledgeable - is that bad for the company or good?

trolleski• 1 month ago

A shocker!

WhatsName2• 1 month ago

I predict that this will be flagged very soon. I would love for HN to publish some data on likes/flags, even anonymous IDs with some infos like account age and number of posts. Sure someome will argue things here get flagged cause they are political, but I don't buy that.

inglor2• 1 month ago

We've had discussions about this sort of stuff before.

As an Israeli (note the article exposing them is Israeli too) I was not aware until I saw this and I definitely intend to protest/organize about this (though to be fair I've been protesting about other stuff in the past and the climate here sucks).

free6523• 1 month ago

Sure someome will argue things here get flagged cause they are political, but I don't buy that.

Are you saying that this isn't political? It's literally about politics. The comments section will be predictable and it will be flagged for that.

Do you disagree?

WhatsName2• 1 month ago

I do not disagree that there is a political aspect to this article. Todays news on Fable and Mythos are political too. HN has plenty of political articles, yet some are more flagged than others.

I claim there might be a pattern of supression. Are arguing against my main point that it would be good to have more transparency so I can support or refute my claim?

hackyhacky2• 1 month ago

Are you saying that this isn't political? It's literally about politics.

Sure it's about politics, but it's also about tech. The intersection of politics and tech is a fascinating area, of great interest to many folks on HN, and probably within HN's charter.

I think that merely touching on politics should not be grounds for flagging a submission, even when the specifics are highly controversial (as in this case).

croes• 1 month ago

UK‘s censorship and surveillance is also political.

Do they get flagged?

xboxnolifes• 1 month ago

Just because something is political and is flagged, does not mean it was flagged because it was political.

HN has plenty of unflagged political topics.

8note2• 1 month ago

it isnt all that interesting from a tech perspective without details about the code and techniques used for doing it.

its worth a flag in that its rage bait, and not surprising or new by any means that israel is aiming to meddle in elections

mentalgear• 1 month ago

Another entry in the 'Black' villain line, along with BlackStone, BlackRock, BlackWater etc ... really makes you think the world is run by a thinly veiled cult of evil comic style villains.

bflesch• 1 month ago

Black, like Leon Black of Epstein fame

FeteCommuniste2• 1 month ago

Also Black Cube: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Cube

jongjong• 1 month ago

It's disturbing to think that there are people getting paid huge amounts of money by governments, using taxpayer money to f around with politics of other countries... Meanwhile I've been trying to raise a $100K seed round for my startup which I've been working on for 14 years during nights and weekends... and I never even made it the interview phase of a tech incubator. WTF is wrong with people?

yowo• 1 month ago

What a surprise..

dmix• 1 month ago

Article is very light on details

eunos• 1 month ago

I'm surprised that they dare to target NYC. I think NSO Group restricted Pegasus so that no US adversary would be retained as a client and the US would not be targeted.

afavour3• 1 month ago

The current US administration would have likely been in favor of it. Long term it’s a bad idea but it wouldn’t be the first time we saw groups like this only thinking about the short term.

daishi55• 1 month ago

They think they can do whatever they want. And thus far, they have been right about that.

JumpCrisscross11• 1 month ago

thus far, they have been right about that

NSO has been sued [1][2] and sanctioned [3].

[1] https://about.fb.com/news/2025/05/winning-the-fight-against-...

[2] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/us-cou...

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/11/03/pegasus...

thinkcontext• 1 month ago

I confused BlackCore with Black Cube, a different Israeli private oppo research and dirty tricks group of former intelligence agents. They gained attention for their dirty campaigns against Harvey Weinstein's accusers, NSOs critics and Hungarian opposition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Cube

armchairhacker• 1 month ago

Not to be confused with Blackrock or Blackstone, both large American investment companies with their own shady operations.

lostlogin3• 1 month ago

And don’t forget Blackwater.

Carbon1603• 1 month ago

Is this the same company that Slovenia was asking the EU for help with regarding the company's meddling in the election process?

verteu• 1 month ago

Not quite. That was Black Cube, a second Israeli spy firm accused of election meddling: https://www.politico.eu/article/robert-golob-slovenia-eu-pro...

sourcegrift• 1 month ago

Lol. Just use reddit. No need for creating new platforms

sghiassy• 1 month ago

… and if you’re against Israeli firms against meddling in our elections, you’re somehow accused of antisemitism

kava962• 1 month ago

I always thought this was a new thing until I read The Palestine Laboratory by Antony Loewenstein. Over more than 50 years Israel has developed a global export industry around military, surveillance, and security technologies that were developed and tested through its control of Palestinian territories, and that these technologies are then marketed and sold worldwide. Buyers are often bad actors that use it to kill and suppress other populations including in Armenia/Azerbaijan, Myanmar, Rwanda genocide, authoritarian governments and many other examples cited in the book.

soerxpso• 1 month ago

Is the "meddling" just running campaign ads? I don't really see how an election where voters' brains were hijacked by tiktok ads funded by foreign governments is less legitimate than one where voters' brains were hijacked by tiktok ads funded by local organizations.

muwtyhg• 1 month ago

You don't see a difference between local and foreign organizations influencing an election?

Most countries only allow citizens to vote. By your logic, they should let anyone vote, because what's the difference between a citizen and a foreigner when it comes to elections?

afavour3• 1 month ago

As a New Yorker this doesn’t shock me too much. The level of “Mamdani is an anti-Semite” sentiment I saw online (Reddit particularly) felt truly hysterical. And wasn’t matched by any equivalent in the offline world.

KennyBlanken• 1 month ago

The NY Times coverage of him is abhorrently biased. Every time I see an article about him, the headline, summary, and article itself feel like the editors were desperate to paint him in as negative a light as possible.

The man has almost overnight gotten the city to start doing things that benefit the general public, nto just the wealthy. Actions on bike lane projects that were stalled and actually taking action against slumlords.

All that barely gets a mention, but they seem obsessed with trying to find fault with everything he does.

During the NBA finals, he paid for his own ticket but they still took him to task for its expense ($1000) and the ticket coming from the "VIP ticket pool" like this was some abuse of his position or unethical of him.

Of course the mayor gets access to the VIP pool of tickets? And he didn't abuse the privilege to get tickets for anyone else - not staff, not family, not friends. Just him.

ardit332• 1 month ago

They are racist, and unfortunately hard core israel supporter, which makes anybody that doesn't go with that agenda as a target.

The moment that Mandani said he will stay home and serve the people of NYC, what asked 'where are you going to make your first visit when elected' it made him a target. He showed he wasn't willing to bow down to a foreign power.

NYT still tries to put a veneer of modicum. NY Post is the one that is unbashingly always negative against Mamdani, full on attacks all the time.

I think people had enough of it, and saw through it and voted for him just in spite.

I know all the members of my soccer team voted for him. I had no clue who he was, but all the attacks backfired and made him even more famous.

newaccountman2• 1 month ago

Same with Politico and WSJ. Transparently biased against him.

cogman102• 1 month ago

Because he represents a huge threat to power.

He's showing that government can be efficient. It can help people. People can actually like their local governments. And that is completely counter to the politics of these rags and their funders.

They want to talk about how government can't work, will always be inefficient, and how it must be cut.

The people who own these papers know that the obvious solution to a lot of societal problems is "tax the rich, build out social programs" and they desperately don't want that message to get out. It makes it a lot harder to setup gig and gambling economies.

bayarearefugee• 1 month ago

They have to be kind of panicking that the smear tactics keep backfiring.

Didn't stop Mamdani. Won't stop Platner.

At this point it is amusing to see them pissing away so many millions of dollars to stop a public opinion tide that has no chance of being stopped.

adultSwim• 1 month ago

Won't stop Platner.

That's unfortunate. Choosing a leader who lies constantly and boasts of enjoying killing people seems like an unnecessary mistake. He is attacked by people who have defended far worse and are quite cynical. That doesn't mean he should be defended. He should be attacked by a left comfortable enough in its future vision as to not compromise on basic principles.

The attacks against Mamdani were disingenuous. This suspicion has heightened when the other candidates being artificially propped up had such huge flaws. I hope we can learn to see when that dynamic pops up in other places.

pjc502• 1 month ago

I'm not sure in the Platner case why the supposed progressive cause can't find someone without a Nazi tattoo.

I'm not sure what the alleged benefits of Platner are either. Mamdani has been amazing, but what is Platner for?

JumpCrisscross11• 1 month ago

I like and have come to, on certain policies and candidates, ally with Mamdani. But I’m struggling to find the relevance to New York City in this article beyond supposition. I went in ready to find a foreign attack on our homeland and come away grasping at straws.

ardit332• 1 month ago

French foreign services said they discovered this, but they haven't made all material they know public. They say the contacted the NY/US authorities with what they know.

Do you think they are lying just for kicks?

retinaros2• 1 month ago

do they mention hwo they meddled? there is a scenario where such firm would expect mamdani elected as a favorable outcome.

thatguy0900• 1 month ago

Well previous NYC mayors felt the need to travel to Israel and talk to them about how good of a job he did for them, so it is quite a change

AbstractH24• 1 month ago

As a newyorker who was raised a modern orthdox jew, but left that world for the world arts, the last few years have been weird.

On the one hand, it's been the first time I've no longer been able to take for granted that everyone in a room agrees with my political views and doesn't pre-judge me based on my background. On the other hand, I've gone back home to the suburbs and heard some really ridiculous hyperbole about what it's like in NYC.

Then there's the fact that while I support Isreal, I don't support all its actions. Nor do a lot of people in the [Orthodox] Jewish community, but they are afraid to speakup too much.

Modern orthdoox jews are kind of like Mitt Romney is for Mormons. Observant of all the rules, but also raised with a full secular education, encouraged to go to college, and expected to participate in society rather than isolate in thier community.

karim792• 1 month ago

The 2026 budget for Hasbara is $730 million. That's a lot of push.

altacc3• 1 month ago

I suspect that many people, like me, now hear "antisemitic" as "anti Israel" and assume it's a politically motivated slur without justification. This is not good. As racism and actual antisemitism continues to be very real, any conflating or exaggeration of a real problem diminishes people's willingness to address the real problems.

ChrisRR• 1 month ago

And this is what Israel wants. To claim that anyone who disagrees with Israel and their genocide is antisemetic

throw3773563• 1 month ago

If you notice a police officer is only ever arresting people of a certain race, you can suspect he’s a racist - even if they actually did commit the crimes.

Having an obsession with Israel, focusing only on them for things done by other countries as well in the same situation, exaggerating what they are doing, and demonising them is antisemitic.

The Overton window has shifted so far that you don’t even realise how it would sound if you replaced “Israel” with other countries in your statement.

Imagine hearing someone say I’m just “anti-Ireland”. Or I have nothing against Ukrainians, I just think Ukraine shouldn’t exist.

If you have genuine criticisms to make about specific people in Israel or specific actions of the Israeli government, and you do so also about many other figures and events internationally, that’s fair. But taking a position of “anti-Israel” in general betrays a prejudice against the only Jewish country that has nothing to do with their actions.

saturn86013• 1 month ago

On the flipside the level of deep love and praise for Bernie Sanders did not translate into an equivilent outcome in real life. (And I say that as a Bernie supporter).

Its a hard lesson to learn that there is so much astroturfing in both directions that you have to learn to ignore the noise.

jjk1662• 1 month ago

I would argue serving 19 years in the US Senate is a far more impressive political accomplishment than being elected mayor of a city, even one as prominent as New York. Bernie has had immense political success, even if his attempt at being nominated for the presidency was narrowly thwarted. Cuomo may have been an insider, but he was a disgraced insider; there's no comparison to the political figures who beat Bernie.

unselect5917• 1 month ago

If our press was honest, every story you heard about Russia would have been about Israel instead. Israel is overwhelmingly America's worst enemy and they distract from that by pretending Russia/Iran/China/Qatar is. No other country blackmails our politicians or steals so much of our money, military resources, soldier lives as much as Israel. There's no close competitor even.

Yet we're never told that explicitly and it's never framed as the abusive relationship that it is.

Makes you really wonder who the press works for.

rendall3• 1 month ago

* CLS Strategies, a Washington, D.C. communications firm, was named by Facebook/Meta in 2020 when Meta removed fake accounts and pages tied to operations in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mexico. Meta defines coordinated inauthentic behavior as efforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic goal where fake accounts are central. PRWeek also reported the takedown as fake accounts and pages managed by CLS. [1] [2]

* Rally Forge, a U.S. marketing firm, was linked by Facebook to a 2020 domestic U.S. operation run on behalf of Turning Point USA, involving fake accounts and coordinated behavior. Axios reported that Facebook removed 200 accounts, 55 pages, and 76 Instagram accounts. [3] [4]

* New Knowledge / Project Birmingham is another ugly example. In the 2017 Alabama Senate race, Democratic-aligned operatives experimented with Russian-style disinformation tactics, including fake or misleading Facebook activity and buying retweets. The effort was reportedly small and probably did not decide the election, but it proves the category exists inside the U.S. political ecosystem. [5] [6]

* There are also U.S.-linked pro-Western covert influence operations. Graphika and the Stanford Internet Observatory analyzed accounts removed by Twitter and Meta for platform manipulation or coordinated inauthentic behavior; later reporting said the Pentagon ordered a review after fake accounts suspected of being run by the U.S. military were taken down. Meta later attributed a campaign targeting the Middle East and Central Asia to people associated with the U.S. military. [7] [8] [9]

* Cambridge Analytica is adjacent but not identical. It had U.S. offices and U.S. political clients, and it was part of the broader “election manipulation for hire” world, but its central scandal was data harvesting, psychographic targeting, and political ad targeting, not necessarily fake-account bot networks in the same narrow sense. [10]

[1] August 2020 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report https://about.fb.com/news/2020/09/august-2020-cib-report/

[2] Facebook deletes dozens of fake accounts, pages run by CLS Strategies https://www.prweek.com/article/1693342/facebook-deletes-doze...

[3] October 2020 Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Report https://about.fb.com/news/2020/11/october-2020-cib-report/

[4] Facebook removes inauthentic campaign linked to Turning Point USA https://www.axios.com/2020/10/08/facebook-turning-point-usa-...

[5] Researcher whose firm wrote report on Russian interference used questionable online tactics during Alabama Senate race https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/19/researc...

[6] Project Birmingham (disinformation campaign) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Birmingham_%28disinfor...

[7] Unheard Voice: Evaluating five years of pro-Western covert influence operations https://public-assets.graphika.com/reports/graphika_stanford...

[8] Meta, Twitter take down accounts pushing pro-U.S. messages https://www.axios.com/2022/08/24/meta-twitter-take-down-acco...

[9] Fewer Bots, More Ads: The Pentagon's Evolving Online Influence Campaigns https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/fewer-bots--more-ads--t...

[10] Cambridge Analytica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica

juliusceasar• 1 month ago

It is called HASBARA, spreading lies with Israeli government money received from USA as aid.

the_origami_fox• 1 month ago

Wow, again I am dismayed by the antizionism and anti-Israel sentiment. The popularity of this short, weak article on this website, and the vitriol and hate in the comments is unreal. Can't you all go to Reddit?

In 2016 the UK based Cambridge Analytica was blamed for Trump's win in 2016. Then he won again in 2024 without them. Meanwhile both USA parties invested heavily in social media campaigns.

In my country local government elections are in a few months and political parties are already flooding my social media with rage bait (primarily Instagram and Facebook).

This short article is about a private company, not linked to the government, that may or may not have been retained by locals, that may or may not have breached foreign interference laws, and that certainly did not lend its targeted candidates an overwhelming advantage (Mamdani was the most popular candidate in the NYC mayoral election). But because it is about Israel everyone goes crazy.

stats111• 1 month ago

Israel has been getting away with this for years: https://www.france24.com/en/technology/20230215-israeli-firm...

mortsnort• 1 month ago

Is this protected free speech in USA?

sterlind• 1 month ago

why would the First Amendment apply to foreign nationals working for a foreign corporation in a foreign country?

rendall3• 1 month ago

* Avisa Partners / iStrat, a French lobbying, intelligence, cybersecurity, and online-influence firm, has been accused in French investigations of information manipulation through ghostwritten articles, fake or undisclosed profiles, blogs, and Wikipedia interventions on behalf of powerful clients. Mediapart reported that Avisa was suspected of modifying Wikipedia pages for clients including French business elites and foreign powers. Wikimedia France also summarized the affair, saying Avisa or its subcontractors were suspected of numerous undeclared paid contributions to Wikipedia. Avisa has denied wrongdoing. [1] [2] [3]

* iStrat, Avisa's predecessor, was separately linked in French reporting to fake online personas used to publish commentary about business disputes. The Avisa Partners Wikipedia summary, based on French media reports, says JDN traced fake analyst profiles and critical commentary to iStrat-era activity, while iStrat and its owners denied the claims. [4]

* There was also a France-linked, though not company-linked, covert influence operation in Africa. In December 2020, Facebook/Meta removed networks for coordinated inauthentic behavior targeting African audiences; one network was linked to individuals associated with the French military. Meta said the operation used fake accounts, pages posing as news or military entities, and off-platform domains. Graphika and Stanford described it as French and Russian influence operations going head-to-head in Africa. [5] [6]

* The Washington Post reported the same Facebook takedown as people affiliated with the French military using fake Facebook accounts to meddle in African politics, while noting that Facebook said it did not have evidence that the French military institution itself directed the activity. [7]

[1] Operation Fake Info: firm used by French business elites suspected of infiltrating Wikipedia https://www.mediapart.fr/en/journal/france/230722/operation-...

[2] L'affaire Avisa Partners sur Wikipédia, expliquée https://www.wikimedia.fr/affaire-avisa-partners-sur-wikipedi...

[3] France: Avisa Partners withdraws its defamation actions against a number of media outlets https://europeanjournalists.org/blog/2023/06/29/france-avisa...

[4] Avisa Partners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avisa_Partners

[5] Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from France and Russia https://about.fb.com/news/2020/12/removing-coordinated-inaut...

[6] More-Troll Kombat: French and Russian influence operations go head to head targeting audiences in Africa https://graphika.com/reports/more-troll-kombat

[7] People affiliated with French military used Facebook to meddle in Africa https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/15/people-...

karim792• 1 month ago

"Israel has of course no intention to interfere in the French political process, be it at the national or municipal level," it said in a statement."

Yeah right. Surely not. Why would they even?

Israeli firm BlackCore suspected of meddling in New York and Scotland votes

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