Team Jorge

Team Jorge is the name given to an outfit of Israeli contractors specialized in the use of malign cyber activities including hacking, sabotage, and bot farm-run social media disinformation campaigns to manipulate the outcomes of elections.^[1] One of the organization's primary tools is a software package called Advanced Impact Media Solutions, or Aims.

The group was exposed in February 2023 after an award-winning^[2] undercover operation by journalists from Israel and France as part of a consortium of investigative journalists coordinated by Forbidden Stories.^[3]^[4] The organization has been active since at least 2015 and boasts of having manipulated 33 presidential elections worldwide, many of them in Africa, and in 27 cases with successful results.^[5]

Their activities were revealed following a 2022 sting operation in Tel Aviv, carried out by three undercover journalists, who posed as prospective clients and filmed their interactions with Tal Hanan — the group's leader and former Israeli special forces operative — in which he explained the inner workings of the organization.^[6] Tal Hanan used the pseudonym "Jorge" when working with the hacking and disinformation group, which inspired the Team Jorge name.^[1]

^ ^a ^b Benjakob, Omer; Megiddo, Gur (15 February 2023). "Hacking, Extortion, Election Interference: These Are the Tools Used by Israel's Agents of Chaos and Manipulation". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ "Radio France / La Cellule d'investigation récompensée par un Online Journalism Award". Radio France (in French). Retrieved 2 September 2023.
^ Leloup, Damien; Reynaud, Florian (16 February 2023). "Les réseaux sociaux, pierre angulaire des opérations d'influence et d'intoxication". Le Monde.fr (in French). Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (15 February 2023). "How undercover reporters caught 'Team Jorge' disinformation operatives on camera". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ Cite error: The named reference Megiddo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Ganguly, Manisha; Pegg, David; Cadwalladr, Carole; Burke, Jason (15 February 2023). "Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2023.

[:0-1] Benjakob, Omer; Megiddo, Gur (15 February 2023). "Hacking, Extortion, Election Interference: These Are the Tools Used by Israel's Agents of Chaos and Manipulation". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 February 2023.

[2] "Radio France / La Cellule d'investigation récompensée par un Online Journalism Award". Radio France (in French). Retrieved 2 September 2023.

[3] Leloup, Damien; Reynaud, Florian (16 February 2023). "Les réseaux sociaux, pierre angulaire des opérations d'influence et d'intoxication". Le Monde.fr (in French). Retrieved 17 February 2023.

[4] Kirchgaessner, Stephanie (15 February 2023). "How undercover reporters caught 'Team Jorge' disinformation operatives on camera". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 February 2023.

[Megiddo-5] Cite error: The named reference Megiddo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[GuardReveal-6] Kirchgaessner, Stephanie; Ganguly, Manisha; Pegg, David; Cadwalladr, Carole; Burke, Jason (15 February 2023). "Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 February 2023.

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