Researchers looked at rapper Lokey (real name Kaleen Dennis) and found that 11 percent of his profiles on X were fake.
Lokey, who has more than 390,000 followers on his social media channels, posted on October 7: “It's arrogant to believe you can lock up 2 million people indefinitely in an open-air prison…” He also claimed that Israel was “not a country” and was “deliberately” starving Gazans.
Researchers also analyzed the profile of Robert Carter, who works for the website 5Pillars and has 125,000 followers on X, and found that 15 percent of the accounts associated with him were fake.
Within days of the October 7 massacre, he accused Israel of being a “propaganda peddler” who spread “false stories of decapitated babies to make people sympathize with Israel.” In October, Israel claimed that it had “started using chemical weapons not only in Gaza but also in Lebanon.”
“The details surrounding fake accounts on platforms like X are Elon Musk's problem, not mine,” Carter said.
Hussein and Dennis declined to comment. There is no suggestion that any of them are aware of or control the fake accounts that interact with them online.
“Iran, China, and Russia are very active in creating fake accounts on social media. Using our technology, we can see the scale and sophistication of these campaigns,” said Raffi Mendelsohn, vice president of Cyabra. and from there we can infer or understand whether this appears to be an activity of a state actor.
“The sophistication and level of what we saw suggests a level of involvement by state actors.”
This comes amid growing concerns among Israeli ministers about the influence social media influencers have over British discourse on the Gaza war. A recent report circulating among senior Israeli officials claims that “influential pro-Hamas” figures are “engaged in creating, resonating and promoting a pro-Hamas narrative in the UK”.
Amichai Tsikri, Israel's Minister for Diaspora Affairs, told the Telegraph:
“There is a direct threat to the UK from pro-Hamas organizations operating across the UK with the express aim of enforcing Sharia law and turning the UK into an Islamic island. It is the vision of
He said British authorities “need to become more active and more aggressive against these enemies who threaten not only the Jewish community but also the British way of life and fundamental values ​​as a democratic nation.” said.
A government spokesperson said: “Protecting our democratic processes is an absolute priority and we will continue to condemn malicious activity that threatens our institutions and values.”
