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Israel floods US phones with AI messages in campaign to manipulate public opinion

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Artificial Intelligence, AI [Wikipedia]

Israel is using AI-generated text messages, conservative media and online influencers in an expanding campaign to stem the collapse in US public support, according to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal.

The effort reaches from millions of Americans having their mobile phones flooded with pro-Israel content, evangelical churches to university campuses, social-media feeds and even the online material used by AI chatbots.

According to the Journal, the Israeli government has retained at least six firms to conduct influence operations in the US, while around three dozen marketing and communications professionals have registered as foreign agents working on its behalf.

The campaign comes amid growing American opposition to Israel following its genocide in Gaza and war with Iran. A Pew Research Center survey conducted in March found that 60 per cent of US adults held an unfavourable view of Israel, compared with 42 per cent in 2022.

The campaign involves millions of AI-assisted text messages sent to American mobile phones. To pass of as a real campaign, senders are said to identify themselves as Emma, Sarah or John and claim to represent an organisation called Friends for Peace. They begin by asking recipients for their views about Israel, Iran or the US-Israel relationship before directing the conversation towards arguments supporting Israel.

However, the Journal found no evidence that Friends for Peace exists as a registered non-profit organisation or company. Recipients could not find a website identifying who runs or finances the group.

When people asked how it had obtained their numbers, the system replied that the information came from publicly available sources.

The text operation is run by Sparkfire, a company specialising in AI-assisted political outreach. It had received $6.5 million by mid-May, although the company maintained that human employees supervise the conversations and sometimes communicate directly with recipients.

Sparkfire’s work forms part of a broader Israeli contract with Brad Parscale, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump who worked on his 2016 and 2020 election campaigns. The agreement, worth more than $45 million, covers digital advertising, AI messaging, websites and mass text campaigns.

Read: Israel to spend $730m on propaganda as global image collapses over Gaza genocide

Parscale also serves as chief strategy officer at Salem Media, a major conservative radio and podcast company carrying presenters including Hugh Hewitt, Scott Jennings and Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law.

Parscale’s original contract with Israel proposed integrating campaign narratives into Salem’s media properties and associated distribution channels. More than $500,000 was subsequently spent on advertising through the network.

Israel has also sought to reinforce support among evangelical Christians, who remain one of its most dependable political constituencies in the US.

Show Faith by Works, a recently created US advocacy group contracted as part of Israel’s influence campaign, proposed using geofencing technology to target around four million people attending megachurches and Christian colleges in the south-western US.

Geofencing allows advertisers to send material to mobile devices detected within specified locations, including churches, campuses and religious gatherings.

Documents said the campaign would seek to create “positive associations” with Israel while linking Palestinians to extremist organisations. Its proposed budget exceeded $3 million.

Actor Chris Pratt and basketball player Stephen Curry were named as examples of celebrities who could serve as influential advocates.

Other parts of the campaign seek to reach younger and more socially liberal audiences through online personalities. Companies belonging to smaller online personalities have received payments as well.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met conservative influencers during recent visits to the US as his government seeks to counter the rise in support for Palestine in US.

The campaign is also attempting to influence the information Americans receive from AI chatbots. Parscale’s team has created websites, articles and links containing pro-Israel material designed to appear in search results and become sources for systems such as ChatGPT and Claude.

One example is Allyvia.org, a website promoting the US-Israel alliance which AI chatbots have reportedly cited when answering questions.

The campaign has provoked criticism within the Trump administration. US Vice President JD Vance accused Israeli officials of trying to manipulate American opinion to prolong the war with Iran and undermine negotiations.

Speaking to podcaster Joe Rogan, Vance alleged that officials were “manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely”.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

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