Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections | Cybercrime | The Guardian
A team of Israeli contractors who claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the world using hacking, sabotage and automated disinformation on social media has been exposed in a new investigation.
The unit is run by Tal Hanan, a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who now works privately using the pseudonym “Jorge”, and appears to have been working under the radar in elections in various countries for more than two decades.
He is being unmasked by an international consortium of journalists. Hanan and his unit, which uses the codename “Team Jorge”, have been exposed by undercover footage and documents leaked to the Guardian.
[…]
Hanan told the undercover reporters that his services, which others describe as “black ops”, were available to intelligence agencies, political campaigns and private companies that wanted to secretly manipulate public opinion. He said they had been used across Africa, South and Central America, the US and Europe.
One of Team Jorge’s key services is a sophisticated software package, Advanced Impact Media Solutions, or Aims. It controls a vast army of thousands of fake social media profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Telegram, Gmail, Instagram and YouTube. Some avatars even have Amazon accounts with credit cards, bitcoin wallets and Airbnb accounts.
The consortium of journalists that investigated Team Jorge includes reporters from 30 outlets including Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País. The project, part of a wider investigation into the disinformation industry, has been coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a French nonprofit whose mission is to pursue the work of assassinated, threatened or jailed reporters.
“who is that masked
manavatar?”read more about another angle in the guardian’s expose’ under the headline ‘Aims’: the software for hire that can control 30,000 fake online profiles | Technology | The Guardian
so just how popular really are some of those twits who boast about their millions of twitter followers if one can buy 30,000 fake avatar tweeters at a pop from mr. jorge?
[yes, donald, i’m thinking of you inflating the numbers of followers same way you inflated the value of your wealth]
speaking of similar ilk
colbert last night toward the end of his monologue delighted in a catchy new nickname that looks to be a winning political avatar for next election (useful for the opposition.)
Stephen reminds us that you can’t buy love this Valentine’s Day, checks in on his best friend Nikki Hayley, and drops a hot new single dedicated to Florida’s governor.
interesting story Pat. hope they get their client list. i’ll bet Republicans are on it.
how much do you think AIMS would charge you to buy this to use for ron’s avatar?
in case you didn’t watch the dark side crazies last week, here’s lincoln project’s recap
for prof. sturge, an epistemological question in re weather forecast today:
why is it okay to say “partly sunny” but not “partly moony”?
Because; THAT’S why.
Hmmm, maybe pay attention to only verified social media accounts’ posts and don’t read the comments, and know that the algorithm will send garbage down the shute…or avoid it altogether.
Listen to the candidates and look at their records. Debates and town halls, more of those.
Watch more than one channel of network news, or cable news if you have access, if only as context.
Don’t rely on any news organization to do the job for you. They are easily distracted.
“Where Does The MSM Go Wrong?” The Problem With Jon Stewart
And, to that point, the newest episode is about the horror unfolding in Ohio, after the train derailment, but it’s not on YouTube yet. I don’t see much on the news, but there are stories of sick and dying fish and mammals, the filing of lawsuits, and EPA docs.
https://response.epa.gov/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=15933
Hmmm, the EPA is only mentioning a few chemicals, but the manifest of toxins on that train is long.
“But those five train cars — each potentially holding thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride — were not the only hazardous material, according to documents [hyperlink to docs in link] the train company provided to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/13/us/hurricane-ian-fema/index.html
“More than four months after Hurricane Ian, many homeowners in the Fort Myers area are still homeless, some living in difficult or even dangerous conditions.”
“Reeves is especially frustrated by the spray paint marks on his driveway. They indicate he’s been approved by FEMA for a free temporary trailer to live in while he rebuilds his home. But he says he’s been waiting for it since October.”
So, instead of wasting airtime on a puppy who found his way home, or conjoined twins or organ transplants, maybe the MSM should give some energy to get the government to give these folks some help.
today’s meme…
BiD, some background in re toxic train:
back in 2020
Bomb Trains – Trump Rule: Transporting Liquid Natural Gas by Rail (popularmechanics.com)
and now
Is Donald Trump to Blame for Ohio Train Derailment?
Any information derived from someone who uses a term like “bomb train” is automatically put on the sketchy list.
As if the official DOT term “high-hazard flammable unit train” wasn’t scary enough.
Jack
BTW, emergency responders can get a list of all potential hazardous chemicals on trains passing through their area. That they have the training to read it is another problem.
Jack
Pence group airing $1 million in Iowa ads to “educate Iowans on the radical Left’s attempts to indoctrinate our children.” He’s in Iowa today.
In her announcement speech today Nikki Haley proposed “”Mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over age 75”
Ageism.
Class action lawsuit?
Republicans want to kill SS and Medicare, so this just shows the voting public their disdain for older folks.
It couldn’t be done without the help of Congress anyway, right? She’s just spitting in the wind to get her toxic sputum into the political air. Ewww.
Even someone younger, like Nikki Hayley, can be found mentally incompetent.
If she wants to test every candidate, of every age? OK.
Josh Hawley wants to restrict teens from the dangers of social media platforms, but thinks a girl should be forced to give birth (especially risky at a young age) even as a result of rape/incest. That, right there, is bat-crap crazy.
Also, see Santos/Devolder, mtg, Jordan, etc.
Also, if it’s not a made-up concern concern to her (it is), perhaps term limits?
Little Nikki’s call for an ageist action only proves that she will need help to get tRUMPSKY out of her way.
I have full faith in POTUS Joe’s mental abilities, as does the viewing audience of the SOTU who watched as he led Republicans into publicly stating they will not touch SS and Medicare. Of course, they are liars, but at least he made them show themselves as such.
Nikki could have said age 80 and it would only apply to Biden, not Trump
I am not sure the quantity of “youth” votes are out there for her to round up. Also, once SFB decides to attack her, he has a misogynistic streak mixed in the slurry that is his brain case, her life is going to be just as much fun as a left over dead squid.
craig, but the loser former guy, the genius in the stable, bragged he’d already passed his test by remembering 5 words (“person, woman, man, camera, TV”) so he probably thinks she didn’t mean him.
OK, climate change is likely to have bad results, but a sunny, 70 degree day on February 15 is rather pleasant. But on this sunny day I just read an article at WaPo about the Thwaites Glacier being undermined with warm water, potentially resulting in:
Now, I’m all for doing what’s necessary to reduce the man-made effects on global warming and climate change, but the foregoing has a touch too much Chicken Little/Henny Penny feel to it.
https://www.thejuicemedia.com/
A new, climate change video from Juice Media.
better take a harder look at those last 3 we shot down
Ukraine claims Russian balloons shot down over Kyiv | The Hill
tRUMPsky is 76. Nikki knows there is no way to make this happen, but she is trying to poison his well. She thinks she can beat Biden, but she has to get Orange Adolf out of the way. She’s trying to use the nasty, little Repug trick to line up folks against him as being incompetent. Well, folks can be against him without being for her. They are not mutually exclusive stances. There are no moderate Republicans. They are all toxic to average Americans.
Just saw a flash that Raquel Welch has died. Sigh. Time to dig out One Million Years BC.
Raquel was 81. I wasn’t aware she was only four years older than I am. My son had such a crush on her back in ’79,
Nikki’s speech promised everything to everybody on all sides with no details of any kind. Nothing impressive other than she might put a dent in the Orange ones prospects.
Jamie – I think a lot of boys/men and not a few ladies had a crush on her too. In a way she had a humour about her looks that is similar to Dolly Parton. Something little known (anymore) is she was in Bob Hope’s USO trope in Vietnam. A little happiness to those sitting in the muck.
Funny of the day (from the Baltimore Sun – deep paywall), an article about low results of recruiting for the military branches. Interview of the Army recruiter, basically low numbers because the young ‘uns do not see military life as safe and conducive to longevity. How do you convince them to sign the line stating you are giving everything, including your life, to protect America against all enemies foreign and domestic.
NEW THREAD