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fake profiles

Illustrative: People look at electronic devices while relaxing in Tel Aviv on June 4, 2025. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)
October 18, 2025, 8:22 am
AI tools supercharge foreign influence campaigns targeting Israelis on social media
Mimicking popular Facebook groups, a shadowy network used AI-generated content to target voters — revealing the country’s growing vulnerability to digital manipulation
By Stav Levaton
Founders of Israeli startup Cyabra (from left to right): Yossef Daar, Dan Brahmy, and Ido Shraga, (Courtesy)
July 23, 2024, 11:42 pm
Israeli AI startup tracking fake news plans to list on Nasdaq at $70 million valuation
Tel Aviv-based Cyabra has built a platform driven by machine learning algorithms to uncover fake profiles and harmful narratives created by AI-generated fake content and GenAI tools
By Sharon Wrobel
The Twitter application is seen on a digital device, April 25, 2022, in San Diego (AP/Gregory Bull)
November 12, 2022, 6:44 pm
Twitter’s paid blue tick unavailable for users after fake profiles rush platform
Mock accounts only latest fiasco faced by billionaire Elon Musk since company takeover; user posing as Lockheed Martin vows to halt arms sales to US, Saudi Arabia and Israel
By Agencies and ToI Staff
The logo for social media giant Facebook is seen at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York's Times Square, March 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
October 8, 2020, 11:47 pm
Facebook removes fake accounts linked to US conservative group
Social media giant bans the Arizona-based firm behind the profiles, which it says used stock photos to pose as right-leaning Americans
By David Klepper
Israelis protest against the Israeli government's handling of the current coronavirus crisis, in Tel Aviv, on August 1, 2020. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
August 4, 2020, 11:29 pm
Police: Israeli woman who lives abroad behind Facebook threat against PM
Comment saying Netanyahu should get a ‘bullet to the head’ was posted by a fake profile, prompting some to accuse premier of being behind it
By ToI Staff
Topaz Luk, social media adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, arrives with the premier at the Knesset, September 15, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
July 30, 2020, 9:02 pm
Activist says Netanyahu’s social media adviser is inciting against him
Gonen Ben Yitzhak files police complaint, says posts on premier’s Facebook and Twitter pages tied his photo to threats against the PM he had nothing to do with
By ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a televised statement at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on July 27, 2020. (Tal Shahar/Pool/AFP)
July 30, 2020, 1:55 pm
Facebook says comment shared by Netanyahu as incitement against him is fake
Police launch probe after social media giant removes profile that wrote PM should get ‘bullet to the head’; spokesman for Netanyahu says notion he himself was behind it is ‘stupid’
By ToI Staff
Illustrative: The logo of US social network company Twitter displayed on the screen of a smartphone, May 2, 2019. (LOIC VENANCE / AFP)
June 13, 2019, 7:59 pm
Twitter deletes thousands of accounts linked to Iran government
More than 200 of the accounts originating in Iran ‘directly engaged with discussions related to Israel,’ social network says
By Agencies
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz. (Oded Balilty and Jack Guez/AFP)
April 8, 2019, 6:41 pm
Netanyahu is most-tweeted-about Israeli politician, Gantz is second
On eve of elections, PM’s Twitter supporters tout his foreign policy prowess; detractors tweet about his alleged lack of integrity
By Simona Weinglass
Fake news as seen on the Facebook page of Karine Nahon, head of the Israel Internet Association. (Facebook)
March 26, 2019, 11:43 pm
Facebook removes 30 fake profiles, most of them backing Netanyahu
Social media company agrees to examine hundreds more suspect profiles submitted by public via tool to flag suspicious content
By Sue Surkes
This post, from a site called amadnews_official, carries a speech bubble saying, "Neither, Gaza nor Lebanon, my [soul] is for Iran," and a somewhat obscure caption which says, "Amed News, lets cry blood, we will not forget you ever, Tehran, Mashad, Shahin Najafi, Restart, Wednesday without suppression, White Wednesday, Human Echo, Celebrity." (Facebook)
March 26, 2019, 3:38 pm
Facebook smashes Iranian manipulation campaign targeting Israel, others
Account holders presented themselves as locals, often impersonating real political groups and media organizations
By Sue Surkes
Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer, chairman of the Central Elections Committee, and Orly Ades, the committee's director general, seen on February 21, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
February 27, 2019, 8:06 pm
Experts implore elections chief to appoint anti-cyber meddling czar
After simulation session tries to grapple with potential threats to April 9 vote, letter to Judge Melcer warns someone must be empowered to act quickly to remove rogue activity
By Sue Surkes
Engineers from the Israeli company "Commun.it" use their expertise in social media commercial analysis to identify networks of fake users, at their offices in the city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv on January 23, 2019 (JACK GUEZ / AFP)
February 1, 2019, 6:40 am
Coalition of Israeli diplomats, programmers working to beat election cyber bots
Activists are seeking to identify nefarious networks on social media and get them removed. ‘Once a reporter writes it in a serious newspaper, fake news becomes real news,’ one says
By AFP and ToI Staff
A screenshot of the homepage of the Tel Aviv Times news site, which Israeli firm CyberSky says is part of an Iranian 'worldwide disinformation infrastructure' (Screen capture via CyberSky)
September 6, 2018, 6:28 pm
Cyber firm says three Iran-run sites are targeting Israelis with fake news
ClearSky also discovers fake Facebook profiles and Twitter accounts intended to push Tehran’s agenda and ‘influence public opinion’ in Israel
By ToI Staff
Illustrative image of a hacker.(Shutterstock)
October 10, 2017, 9:29 am
Sockpuppet nation: How fake commenters and other online ploys skew what you read
‘Online reputation management’ industry is thriving in Israel, gaming Google’s algorithm to boost the prominence of websites, paying trolls to post, and more
By Simona Weinglass
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