Israeli disinformation monitor: "Isreal created fake news sites to change mass opinion"

According to the Haaretz newspaper, the Israeli Fake Reporter disinformation monitoring group revealed the pro-Israeli operation carried out to influence US public opinion in favour of Israel with thousands of fake accounts opened on Instagram, Facebook and X social media platforms.

In the report published by Fake Reporter, it was noted that the operation, which aims to popularise pro-Israel content and posts on social media through fake accounts, started a few weeks after Israel's attacks on Gaza.

The report stated that three separate so-called news websites, The Moral Alliance, UnFold and NonAgenda, were launched just for the misinformation operation.

It was noted that these platforms shared news from media outlets such as CNN, The Guardian and the Wall Street Journal, which raised the allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) personnel were involved in the 7 October Hamas attack and that Hamas members committed "sexual violence" during the 7 October events.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY POLITICIANS TARGETED

The report stated that pro-Israel posts on the situation in Gaza, as well as posts on climate change, artificial intelligence and the Oscars, may have been made to increase followers on social media on fake news sites named The Moral Alliance, UnFold and NonAgenda.

The report stated that fake accounts were sharing content published on 3 platforms by tagging US politicians, influential people and leading news organisations.

In the report, it was noted that approximately 85 percent of US politicians targeted with pro-Israel content were Democrats.

Report shows that the names most targeted by the fake accounts and their posts were Democratic Congress members Ritchie Torres, Joe Neguse, Hank Johnson, Cori Bush and Lucy McBath, respectively.

APPROXIMATELY 600 FAKE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS WERE CREATED

In the report published by Fake Reporter, it was stated that approximately 600 fake accounts on Facebook, Instagram and X were opened on the same day, the same social media profile naming conventions were applied to these accounts, and they all have other common features that indicate that they are part of the same network.

It was also reported that the launch date of the Unfold platform was the same as the date the fake accounts were created.

The report emphasised that there is a core group of social media users who run the social media operation, a second group of fake accounts, most of them with Jewish or African-American names, and finally a third group to repost and comment on social media.

The report noted that pro-Israel posts and reposts were made from many fake accounts, using similar expressions such as "as an African-American middle-aged man", "as a middle-aged white American man".