Ajit Karn
London: According to a study that was published today, a group of Israeli contractors who are suspected of interfering in more than 30 elections in different nations across the globe have been connected with software that operates fake social media campaigns in numerous countries, including India.
A so-called “Team Jorge” unit has been linked with allegedly offering a sophisticated software package to commercial clients under the name Advanced Impact Media Solutions (Aims) as one of its primary services, according to the findings of an investigation that was carried out on a global scale by a journalist consortium that included “The Guardian” newspaper in the United Kingdom.
Team Jorge is suspected of using methods such as hacking, sabotage, and automated misinformation online. The unit is alleged to be directed by Tal Hanan, a fifty-year-old former Israeli special forces officer who works secretly under the pseudonym “Jorge.” Hanan operates privately using the name “Jorge.”
In response to the investigation’s questions, Hanan said that he is not guilty of “any misconduct.”
The newspaper report stated on Wednesday that over the course of several months during the previous year, it had tracked Aims-linked bot activity across the internet along with its reporting partners on the investigation and found that it was the source of “fake social media campaigns, mostly involving commercial disputes, in about 20 countries including the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Senegal, India, and the United Arab Emirates.”
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Reporters from thirty different media sources across the world were part of the consortium of journalists who examined Team Jorge. These publications include Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and El Pais.
Forbidden Stories, a French non-profit organisation with the purpose to follow the work of slain, intimidated, or arrested reporters, has been the organisation in charge of coordinating this initiative, which is a part of a larger inquiry into the misinformation business.
