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A team of Israeli contractors who claim to have manipulated more than 30 elections around the world using hacking, sabotage and automated disinformation on social media has been exposed in a new investigation.
The unit is run by Tal Hanan, a 50-year-old former Israeli special forces operative who now works privately using the pseudonym “Jorge”, and appears to have been working under the radar in elections in various countries for more than two decades.
He is being unmasked by an international consortium of journalists. Hanan and his unit, which uses the codename “Team Jorge”, have been exposed by undercover footage and documents leaked to the Guardian.
Hanan did not respond to detailed questions about Team Jorge’s activities and methods but said: “I deny any wrongdoing.”
Hanan told the undercover reporters that his services, which others describe as “black ops”, were available to intelligence agencies, political campaigns and private companies that wanted to secretly manipulate public opinion. He said they had been used across Africa, South and Central America, the US and Europe.
How did undercover reporters catch “Team Jorge” disinformation operatives on camera? For more than six months, undercover reporters posed as consultants working on behalf of a businessman who wanted to delay an African election.
How does the unit spread disinformation? Advanced Impact Media Solutions, or Aims, which controls more than 30,000 fake social media profiles, can be used to spread disinformation at scale and at speed. It is sold by “Team Jorge”.
What’s happening in France? France’s most-watched news channel, the 24-hour BFMTV, has suspended one of its longest-serving presenters and launched an internal investigation into news packages linked to an Israeli disinformation unit calling itself “Team Jorge”.
‘We can’t keep living like this’: Michigan governor denounces campus shooting
The governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, denounced the “uniquely American problem” of gun violence yesterday, after a gunman murdered three students in a mass shooting at Michigan State University the night before.
Whitmer spoke at a press conference in East Lansing at which authorities identified the shooter, who died by suicide, and revealed other details about the attack that left five students critically wounded.
“We cannot keep living like this,” the Democrat said, noting that yesterday marked five years since the worst US high school shooting, at Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida where 17 students and staff were killed.
“We’re all broken by an all too familiar feeling. Another place that is supposed to be about community and togetherness shattered by bullets and bloodshed,” she said.
The interim deputy chief of Michigan State campus police, Chris Rozman, named the gunman as 43-year-old Anthony McRae, who he said had no affiliation to the university. Rozman said: “We have absolutely no idea what the motive was at this point.”
What else did Whitmer say? “We know this is a uniquely American problem … Our children are scared to go to school. People feel unsafe in their houses of worship, or local stores. As parents, we tell our kids it’s going to be OK. But the truth is words are not good enough. We must act and we will.”
Who were the victims? They have been named as Alexandria Verner, Brian Fraser and Arielle Anderson. All three came from the suburban Detroit area.
Thousands of Ukrainian children put through Russian ‘re-education’ camps, US report finds
At least 6,000 children from Ukraine have attended Russian “re-education” camps in the past year, with several hundred held there for weeks or months beyond their scheduled return date, according to a report published in the US.
Russia has also unnecessarily expedited the adoption and fostering of children from Ukraine in what could constitute a war crime, the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab report found. The report was funded by the US state department.
Since the start of the war nearly a year ago, children as young as four months have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, including in Moscow-annexed Crimea and Siberia, for “pro-Russia patriotic and military-related education”, said the report.
In at least two of the camps, the children’s return date was delayed by weeks, while at two other camps, the return of some children was postponed indefinitely.
What does the report say? It calls for a neutral body to be granted access to the camps and for Russia immediately to stop adoptions of Ukrainian children. The report said Putin aides had been closely involved in the operation, especially Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights. It quoted her as saying 350 children had been adopted by Russian families and that more than 1,000 were awaiting adoption.
In other news …
The US is reportedly examining the possibility that the Chinese spy balloon was pushed off course by strong winds when it entered US airspace, having tracked it since its launch days earlier. Of the four flying objects shot down by the US in recent weeks, only the first has been attributed to Chinese surveillance efforts.
Black residents in Chicago have voiced their concerns that the economic boost from the $500m Obama Presidential Center will not reach them and they could be displaced. The former president’s foundation claims it will bring $3.1bn in “economic impact” during construction and for the first decade after it opens.
Seven more people have been rescued eight days after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, but hopes of finding further survivors of what the World Health Organization called the worst natural disaster in 100 years in its 53-country Europe region are dwindling.
Three lawyers for Donald Trump recently appeared before a federal grand jury as part of the special counsel investigation into his possible retention of national security materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Stat of the day: California winner of record $2bn lottery prize says he is ‘shocked and ecstatic’
The winner of the largest ever lottery jackpot described himself as “shocked and ecstatic” as officials revealed his identity, satisfying a law in his state, California. Edwin Castro bought the ticket that won the record-breaking $2.04bn Powerball jackpot on 8 November. Castro said he was happy the lottery he won had generated a record-breaking $156m for California public schools. “I am shocked and ecstatic to have won the Powerball drawing,” Castro said in his statement. “As someone who received the rewards of being educated in the California public education system, it’s gratifying to hear that as a result of my win, the school system greatly benefits as well.”
Don’t miss this: The truth about caffeine – how coffee really affects our bodies
Coffee. Go-juice. Liquid gold. The one with all the psychoactive properties. Once used by Sufi mystics as an aid to concentration during religious rituals, it’s now one of the most ubiquitous drinks on the planet: we get through about 2bn cups a day. It’s also one of the most valued and pored-over drinks. One particularly sought-after blend, Black Ivory, retails at more than £2,000 a kilogram. But what does it actually do to you? You might have a vague idea that caffeine wakes you up, wrecks your sleep and can aid sporting performance, but what do you know about the drug you are glugging two or three times a day? What is happening inside your body when you have a double espresso in the morning?
Climate check: Rising seas threaten ‘mass exodus on a biblical scale’, UN chief warns
An increase in the pace at which sea levels are rising threatens “a mass exodus of entire populations on a biblical scale”, the UN secretary general has said. The climate crisis is causing sea levels to rise faster than for 3,000 years, bringing a “torrent of trouble” to almost a billion people, in cities from London to Los Angeles and Bangkok to Buenos Aires, António Guterres said yesterday. Some nations could cease to exist, drowned under the waves, he said. Addressing the UN security council, Guterres said reducing carbon emissions and developing new international laws to protect those made homeless – and even stateless – were all needed.
Last Thing: The billion-dollar question – what will Adidas do with all those Yeezys?
Melt them down and turn them into Crocs? Scrape off the label and hope no one notices? What Adidas should do with all its unsold Yeezys is a $1.3bn question that no one seems to have a very good answer for. The brand is in danger after it cut ties with Kanye West in October over his antisemitic comments. The rapper, who now goes by Ye, was a huge profit driver for the company but it’s also ignited an ethical dilemma. How does Adidas discard the items that caused a PR nightmare without triggering another outrage over waste? It’s the first major test of leadership for the company’s new CEO, Bjørn Gulden, who is fresh off a job at Puma. It’s a near impossible line for Adidas to tread. One wrong move could be a PR disaster.
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