A look back at the influence pharmacies that work on behalf of private clients, but also States. A collective of investigative journalists, Forbidden Stories, infiltrated one of them, called Team Jorge.
We knew the influence agencies or “influencers”, of which the Directorate General for Competition (DGCCRF) says that six out of ten do not respect the rules on advertising or consumer rights. But there is more serious. In terms of information, there are also manipulation offices on behalf of private companies or States. This is the case of this Israeli shadow societyTeam Jorge, who sets out to denigrate a client, rehabilitate a criminal or manipulate an election.
She even prides herself on having influenced some thirty elections around the world, mainly in Africa. This is what the journalists of the Forbidden Stories collective, to which thirty editorial offices belong, including The world or Radio France.
► To listen: Survey “Story Killers”: “They claim 33 electoral campaigns, including a majority in Africa”
In France, BFM TV was the victim. Shortly after midnight, one of the well-known faces of the channel, broadcast on its own initiative supposed “information” on 10,000 jobs at stake in the construction of yachts on the Côte d’Azur due to the freezing of Russian assets. The presenter also relayed briefs against the former Attorney General of Qatar, in conflict with Bahrain, or in favor of a “Moroccan” and no longer Western Sahara. According The worldan intermediary, Jean-Pierre Duthion, allowed these sequences to be broadcast on the air.
Fake articles and fake social media profiles
The Team Jorge pharmacy, behind which hides a former Israeli army special forces, is not only able to convey such images, but also to give them resonance on social networks. It also relies on fake articles or avatars. The pharmacy claims 39,000 of these false profiles, constructed from stolen photos, and sometimes commenting on supposed news sites.
► Also to listen: Revelations on the disinformation industry, a lucrative activity on a global scale
Team Jorge is not the only existing pharmacy. Percepto, another Israeli company, orchestrated a smear campaign against the International Committee of the Red Cross on behalf of President Kaboré’s Burkinabe state. As a result, a column that she published in Current Values, accusing the Red Cross of unwittingly sponsoring terrorism.
Team Jorge, Percepto… That’s a lot, especially if we remember that Forbidden Stories has already revealed that a spyware of journalists and opponents, Pegasus, is the work of an Israeli company, NSO. This has not escaped the notice of the Palestinian BDS collective, which is calling for a boycott of Israel, this time with a new argument: that of its repressive technologies, which it describes as “ threat to the world “.