Thread by @omerbenj

At the center of their service is AIMS. A never-before-seen software for creating not bots - but avatars. Complex digital personas that seem real and operate across platforms. AIMS has almost 40k
haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

The fake accounts are grouped and AIMS' avatar management dashboard boasts: “African, Arabian, Armenian, Brazilian, Canada, European (mix), Philippines, Russia, Senegal, South America, Ukraine, USA and Zimbabwe.”
#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

AIMS also allows the creation of new accounts - they automatic creation of new avatars, with unique names, pics (stolen from real people), an email and even a phone number

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

All the avatars have SMS verified emails. After they are created, the system can register them to other websites - from Amazon to Discord and even Airbnb. Some, Jorge claimed, even had crypto wallets

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

Crypto, it turns out, are a bonanza for avatars. Team Jorge’s avatars push out coins for clients and maybe even for them.

This is one of their avatars, she purportedly sent a sex toy to a politician; she also pushed out digital coins

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

To “groom” their avatars - an industry term for non-nefarious activity intended to make the fake accounts look human - they post generic viral content like Buzzfeed or NatGeo

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

To test them, we asked for a test campaign. Start a rumor that Emmanuel the Emu had died a peaceful natural death. #Rip_Emmanuel led us to 1800+ fake accounts.

We'd like to apologize to @hiitaylorblake and her farm animals for any distress caused!
haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

After the Zoom meetings, Jorge offered to meet. @GurMegiddo and I came to his office and managed to get shots of the real Jorge - Tal Hanan - his brother - Zohar - and others #TeamJorge @FredMetzo haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

Other campaigns involved Peter Nygard, aka the Canadian Jeffrey Epstein. When we met in their office in a suburb of Tel Aviv, armed with spy cams, they boasted their role in the campaign. Others involved embattled oligarchs or even the Polisaro Front

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

Team Jorge, we discovered, are not new. They’ve been around for a while and even worked alongside Cambridge Analytica. #TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

In fact, emails we’ve obtained show they and not Blackcube are the Israeli hackers that were involved in the 2015 Nigerian election. They also pitched the Trump campaign h/t @skirchy

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

This is just the first day of the investigation. There’s a string of exposes into disinfo ops and those selling them

#TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

Many times, journalists, especially women are targeted by disinfo ops.

Journalists publish under our real names, we are held accountable for what we say and write. Bylines expose us publicly, and that’s good. But it also comes at a price #TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

The Wire, an Indian outlet that has done amazing reporting on disinfo, were themselves the victims of a targeted campaign that successfully managed to undermine their credibility

Anonymous leak pages on FB or pay-to-publish sites that allow anyone to post fake news help dilute the truth and undermine our ability to trust anything or anyone we see online.
haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

This content pollution. And like real pollution, it has very real consequences.

[Screen shot of #TeamJorge's Blogger system that creates fake news websites, blogs and video links
for avatars to push out]

@FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

Female journalist have it the worst. Grari Lankish died because of incitement fueled in part by hateful politics and in party by people with social media & tech savvy scaling it

haaretz.com/israel-news/se…

Over the years, Meta & Twitter’s main response to disinformation campaigns has been taking down accounts

FB & T have poured tens of millions of $$ into fighting what Meta terms “coordinated inauthentic behaviour.”

about.fb.com/news/tag/coord…

Post the CA scandal, they cut access to researchers and started developing technologies intended to prevent just the very automatization #TeamJorge having been selling since before, during and since

Removing accounts is not enough. Sometimes they're caught, but those behind them are rarely exposed or held accountable
They say democracy dies in darkness. These are the guys turning off the lights & helping bad guys cut the power. They&their clients need to be put in the light

Team Jorge’s avatar army may be fake, but their targets are real people and they cause real damage - both online and irl #TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo

They hide their ops behind proxies. They hide themselves w fake names and burner numbers. They have no photos or digital footprint. Until today, its likely none of their targets knew they existed. #TeamJorge @FredMetzo @GurMegiddo
theguardian.com/world/2023/feb…

Support real journalism
Support real journalists
Don't let them hide in the darkness
Lets make #TeamJorge go viral haaretz.com/israel-news/se…