How Cambridge Analytica-linked 'Team Jorge' manipulated global elections

Group used hacking, sabotage and misinformation

A group of Israeli contractors, code-named "Team Jorge," has been exposed in an undercover investigation for allegedly manipulating over 30 global elections, using tactics including hacking, sabotage and the use of automated misinformation on social media.

Reporters from 30 international media outlets, including Der Spiegel, Le Monde, El País and The Guardian, were part of the consortium that conducted the investigation.

Forbidden Stories, a French non-profit organisation that aims to continue the work of journalists who have been assassinated, threatened, or imprisoned, coordinated the project.

According to The Guardian, three reporters approached Team Jorge as potential clients and filmed footage for the investigation.

Journalists had meetings with Jorge's leader, Tal Hanan - a former member of the Israeli Special Forces - and his colleagues, both via video calls and in person at Team Jorge's base.

The group apparently offers a sophisticated software package called Advanced Impact Media Solutions (Aims) for those seeking to covertly manipulate public opinion. Its clients allegedly include political campaigns, private companies and intelligence agencies.

During more than six hours of secretly recorded meetings, Hanan and his team discussed various methods for gathering intelligence on rivals, including the use of hacking techniques to gain access to Gmail and Telegram accounts.

The investigators claim that Team Jorge's activities involve generating numerous fake social media profiles on various platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, LinkedIn, Gmail, YouTube and Instagram.

The fraudulent profiles seem to utilise genuine social media account profile pictures and are linked with credit cards. Team Jorge can thus create thousands of automated bots capable of sending mass messages.

Hanan demonstrated the Aims interface to the undercover journalists, and scrolled through a number of avatars to show how phoney profiles could be generated instantly.

By utilising different tabs to specify gender and nationality, he then paired names with profile pictures to create fraudulent accounts.

Team Jorge allegedly claimed to have planted material in legitimate news outlets, which was then amplified through the use of Aims' bot-management software.

Hanan claimed that Team Jorge's services have been employed in various parts of the world, including Africa, South and Central America, the United States and Europe.

Hanan claimed, "We are now involved in one election in Africa … We have a team in Greece and a team in [the] Emirates … You follow the leads. [We have completed] thirty three presidential-level campaigns, twenty seven of which were successful."

He also said he was engaged in two "major projects" in the United States, although maintained that he was not directly involved in US politics.

It is worth noting that none of Team Jorge's claims have been independently verified as part of the journalists' investigation.

The Guardian writes that Hanan may have been exaggerating the claims he made to impress potential clients and secure more lucrative deals. For instance, he may have inflated the fees for his services when discussing the cost of his work.

Hanan has denied any wrongdoing when asked to comment on the investigation.

The Guardian and its reporting partners conducted an investigation and monitored bot activity linked to Aims on various internet platforms.

The bot activity was said to be behind various fraudulent social media campaigns, primarily related to commercial disputes in roughly 20 nations, such as the UK, USA, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, India, Mexico, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates.