Fake Iranian accounts ‘campaigned for Netanyahu’ ahead of Israeli election

A network of 1,653 X accounts posing as Iranian users amplified Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s election campaign ahead of last week’s vote, Haaretz reported on Friday.

The accounts posted messages in Hebrew urging Israelis to vote for Netanyahu “on behalf of the Iranian people”.

The accounts, which claimed to belong to Iranians living in Iran or abroad, appeared to coordinate their activity. Their operators remain unidentified.

Activity intensified on election day, when multiple accounts published identical messages and responded to posts in coordinated bursts.

Two accounts, for example, shared 109 identical posts, compared with just four expected through organic activity, according to Haaretz’s analysis.