The effort is not only centered on spreading disinformation but rather magnifying false accusations on aid organizations and the Palestinian Resistance, as well as the events of October 7.

The report found three main "news sites" built specifically for the operation, which contain publications from other news sources like CNN, The Guardian, and other outlets. Avatars heavily pushed the "reports" from the campaign's sites while also sharing screenshots from actual ones, such as a Wall Street Journal piece on UNRWA staff members' alleged involvement with the Palestinian Resistance movement, Hamas.

Over 500 distinct avatars were discovered on the three social media platforms. They shared pieces with nearly similar phrasing and links to what Fake Reporter dubbed "the three main assets" of the influence operation: UnFold Magazine, Non-Agenda, and The Moral Alliance. The day UnFold's X profile was established coincided with the creation of many avatars. Unfold and Non-Agenda have active websites, in addition to social media presence, and have several technical traits that show they are related to each other and were created as part of the same operation.

The sites share 40,000 followers on social media, and both have tried to artificially increase pro-Israeli publications, emphasizing Zionism and Jewish history and reaffirming false reports of rape and sexual assault on October 7.

In an attempt to appeal to progressive audiences, the sites also published reports about climate change, AI regulation, the state of democracy around the world, and even Jewish history.

There were also stories on culture, such as the Oscars, and researchers think they were meant to attract non-political visitors to the sites and boost their social media following, who would eventually view pro-"Israel" information.

Researchers discovered that the majority of the information was duplicated, most likely mechanically, from other reputable media outlets, and was either copied in its entirety or used as the foundation for what seems to be an automated rewrite. The website also published original content, which might have been created automatically using AI; for example, a real UN report on sexual violence was written up on Non-Agenda.

A shared history

Many avatars declared they were Black Americans and attributed the fight for equality to have been supported by the Jewish people, vowing solidarity.
 
The avatars distributed the many reports made on the three sites. For instance, UnFold's material emphasized "Israel" and the West's common principles, as well as the liberal values at the center of Judeo-Christian civilization.

Non-Agenda also featured broader topics concerning Jewish history, such as refuting misunderstandings about Judaism or emphasizing Jews' historical ties to the region. It was originally founded to reach a larger audience and has the most social media following. Non-Agenda's website and social media pages reportedly covered a wide range of issues with no central topic of focus.

Content directly related to the war on Gaza was taken from other websites, including Jewish outlets and other liberal-leaning outlets like CNN.

However, after January and after amassing thousands of followers, the sites drastically became more political, touting anti-semitism reports on US campuses and allegations of UNRWA colluding with Hamas.

The campaign's avatars targeted US politicians, particularly Democratic lawmakers. This could be because Democrats, in particular, are seeing great disagreement within their party over the war on Gaza.

Related News

US, Russia reportedly drafting Ukraine peace plan in secret: Axios

Iran says no US talks, Pezeshkian's message to KSA purely bilateral

An op-ed published in The Washington Post on Monday details some of the challenges facing the Democratic Party amidst sustained protests concerning the war on Gaza.

These demonstrations, critical of US support for "Israel", have exacerbated tensions within the party, especially among its liberal base and young voters.

According to Fake Reporter's investigation, 85% of all American politicians whose accounts were targeted with similar information were Democrats, with 90% being African Americans.

Ritchie Torres, a Democratic congressman from the Bronx who is seen as one of the party's more pro-Israel" members, was the most targeted American representative. Representatives Joe Neguse, Hank Johnson, Cori Bush, Lucy McBath, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Sen. Rev. were the most targeted after him.

According to researchers, the choice to target Torres' page was most likely motivated by his popularity among pro-"Israel" Democrats, and the campaign sought to exploit the page's comments area to enhance exposure to their content among Black users.

In recent weeks, the campaign has shifted its focus again, tweeting more about global terror funding and what they dub as the "axis of evil," comprising Iran, China, and Russia.

'Israel' leading propaganda campaign to subdue Palestinian creators

Supporters of "Israel" are attempting to utilize online tools that allow them to suppress the reach of pro-Palestine content and flood them with pro-"Israel" propaganda using Artificial intelligence, The Washington Post reported back in January. 

Experts are calling this a "citizen-led propaganda campaign," since the usage of the tools does not appear to breach platform rules against "coordinated inauthentic behavior," which refers to posts that appear to be from unconnected persons but are the result of an orchestrated effort, frequently via automated accounts.

Researchers also believe it's impossible to tell which comments were created by these tools since there's no way to publicly trace a user's private behavior across various applications.

Social media businesses would have to devise methods to identify their use, which is difficult because the applications run on their platforms, not those of the social media companies. If the applications posted automatically, they would most certainly breach the rules against inauthentic behavior. However, third-party applications that simply urge genuine users to report postings are not subject to these penalties.

'Israel' desperate to buy content creators

Emerson T. Brooking, a former cyber policy advisor to the Defense Department who studies disinformation and propaganda campaigns as a resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, expressed that the level of organization for pro-"Israel" propaganda is one-sided, noting that “it exists because there are government ministries in "Israel" that support these tools and encourage their use.”

One app is directly tied to the occupation. Moovers pushes users to “Advocate for Israel, One Click at a Time.”

It allows users to mass react to pro-Palestine content pulled in from social media apps such as reporting it for review or commenting on it. It also gives pre-written pro-"Israel" responses to similar posts.

In early December, an Israeli influencer marketing business began contacting creators in the US offering to pay for the promotion of Moovers on their Instagram accounts.