Israeli firm BlackCore, suspected of interfering in France’s local elections in March, is also suspected of meddling in elections in New York City and Scotland, and operating in Angola and Togo, the head of France’s disinformation detection service Viginum says.
Last month, Reuters reported that French authorities suspected BlackCore was behind an online smear campaign targeting three candidates from the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) ahead of municipal elections in March this year.
“This modus operandi was not limited to municipal elections in France,” says the head of Viginum, Marc-Antoine Brillant. “It also appears to have been used to carry out foreign digital interference operations in other countries or regions, such as Angola, Togo, the elections in Scotland, and the 2025 municipal election in New York.”
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