Bots, deepfakes and surveillance: Israel’s election goes to war online
Netanyahu and his rivals are tied days from the vote, and both camps are fighting with bots, deepfakes and data.
Polls show the blocs linked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the opposition, led by former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, are locked in a virtual tie before Tuesday’s general election.
Efforts to mobilise supporters, win voters and attack opponents are being played out online through a series of social media advertisements and doctored AI videos. Many of these paint a bleak vision, the outcome depending on whether the party is on the right or centre, of Israel if their rivals win.
On Thursday, the Israeli liberal daily Haaretz reported that dozens of online bots created to undermine the Iranian government were being repurposed to spread campaign propaganda supporting Netanyahu and his Likud party, and warn voters of the dangers posed by Eisenkot and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who make up part of the opposition bloc.
“Elector and similar programmes are very basic compared to what the Israeli military is capable of now,” Sebastian Ben Daniel, a doctoral researcher into algorithms, computability, and AI, said. “Israel has the perfect laboratory with which to develop this kind of technology.”