Thread by @OCCRP

NEW: Undercover reporters expose a group of disinformation experts calling themselves "Team Jorge" and the tactics they claim to have used to influence political campaigns worldwide — including hacking emails and planting fake news.

#StoryKillers
occrp.org/en/storykiller…

2. Believing he was courting potential clients, group ringleader "Jorge" showed reporters how he could access the Telegram account of an advisor to William Ruto, who was running for president in Kenya then. He appeared to read a polling survey and send a message to a businessman.

3. "Jorge" also explained another disinformation trick: curating targeted social media campaigns, a technology he claims to have sold to more than 10 intelligence agencies.

4. He also said Team Jorge has three rules on dealing in disinformation:

🗳️Nothing in Israel
🗳️No American politics
🗳️"Nothing against Mr. Putin"

5. “Jorge” is Tal Hanan, an ex-Israeli special forces explosives expert who claims to have trained US federal agencies in counter-terrorism.

“Nick” is Hanan’s brother Zohar, while two other team members previously worked w/ Israeli security services, according to sources.

6. The investigation is part of the #StoryKillers project from @FbdnStories, with over 100 journalists from dozens of countries, working to reveal the disinformation-for-hire industry. @TheMarker 🇮🇱@Haaretz 🇮🇱 @radiofrance 🇫🇷 @derspiegel 🇩🇪 @guardian 🇬🇧 @lemondefr 🇫🇷 @ZDF 🇩🇪