Israeli group says network of bots is stumping for Netanyahu

Noam Rotem and Yuval Adam, two researchers operating the Big Bots Project, said in a report that they uncovered hundreds of fake accounts spreading messages in support of Netanyahus Likud party and smearing his opponents.

Adam said his project discovered a network that included a number of real people, along with hundreds of Twitter accounts that appeared to be fake or duplicate.

But Netanyahus son Yair, who has run into trouble in the past for controversial social media activity, has frequently liked posts by the networks accounts.

Since then, these users have tweeted frequently and exclusively about the Likud party and against its opponents, Adam said.

One of the most active Twitter accounts mentioned in the report became private shortly after the 34-page document was published, Adam said.

At a press conference convened to address the issue, Netanyahu dismissed the report sarcastically as an April Fools Day prank.

While Gantz contends no sensitive information was compromised, Netanyahu leveraged the breach to argue that Gantz was unprepared to lead the country.

Original article