Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs ordered the operation, which used fake social media accounts urging U.S. lawmakers to fund Israel’s military, according to officials and documents about the effort. ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, was used to generate many of the posts. The campaign also created three fake English-language news sites featuring pro-Israel articles. The operation is the first documented case of the Israeli government’s organizing a campaign to influence the U.S. government, social media experts said. The secretive campaign signals the lengths Israel was willing to go to sway American opinion on the war in Gaza. “Israel’s role in this is reckless and probably ineffective,” said Achiya Schatz, the executive director of FakeReporter.
At www.nytimes.com
