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ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the three Israeli digital campaigns during 2019–20 elections through their most prominent negative trends, namely: fake news, accounts and identities; politicians’ chat bots; influence and interruption networks, illegal information accumulation on Israeli citizens via social media and voting apps; anonymous and fake spam, and a complete lack of compliance with the statutory and regulatory framework. With technology’s speedy advancement, legal tools’ lagging, and political actors’ exploitation of the situation to their benefit, it seems that these campaigns, setting forth a fifth phase of political communication – Algorithmic Campaigns – constitute a rather bleak and grim future, as far as elections are concerned, thereby calling for rethinking.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Magin et al., “Campaigning in the Fourth Age of Political Communication.”
2. Kaufman, “The Parties in Israel’s 2019 Parliamentary Elections.”
3. Israel Democracy Institute, “The September 2019 Elections.”
4. Jewish Virtual Library, “Israeli Election: Voter Turnout”; Kenig, “September 2019 Elections.”
5. Jewish Virtual Library, “Israeli Election: Voter Turnout.”
6. Wootliff, “Final Results Show Likud 36 Seats.”
7. Kenig, “September 2020 Elections.”
8. Levi, “Real ‘Fake News’ and Fake ‘Fake News”; Tucker et al., Political Polarisation and Political Disinformation.
9. Marwick and Lewis, “Media Manipulation and Disinformation Online.”
10. Vaccari and Valeriani, “Follow the Leader!”; Berinsky, “Rumors and Healthcare Reform.”
11. Tucker et al., Political Polarisation and Political Disinformation; Laser et al., “Combating Fake News.”
13. GEF 70/21, “Israel Beitenu faction v. HaYamin Hahadash list, decision.”
14. Edut, “The Fake Corona War.”
17. Tausig,”Spreading Fake News.”
18. Goichman, “After 5 Hours.”
19. Woolley and Howard, “Political Communication.”
20. Zeifman, “Bot Traffic Report.”
21. Boyd et al., “Networked Nature of Algorithmic Discrimination”; Woolley, “Automating Power”; Woolley and Howard, “Bots Automate Presidential Election”; Bessi and Ferrara, “Social Bots Distort 2016 US Presidential Elections”; Varol et al., Online Human-Bot Interaction.
22. Wojcik et al., Bots in the Twittersphere.
23. Fowler, “Russian Trolls into Your Facebook Feed?”
24. Skowronski, Trolls and Bots Disrupt Social Media
25. Kumar et al., Community Interaction and Conflict Online.
26. Grove-White, “The Truth Engagement Pods.”
27. Jackson, “Distinguishing Disinformation”; Keller et al., “Political Astroturfing on Twitter.”
28. Keller et al., “Political Astroturfing on Twitter.”
29. Walker, Grassroots for Hire.
30. Mako, 31 March 2019.
31. Ben-David, “Facebook Suspends Netanyahu’s Chatbot.”
32. Ben-David, “My Name is Bibi and I’m a Chatbot.”
33. Ben-David, “The Bibi-bot has Returned”; The race to the Million
34. Amit, “Netanyahu’s Party Exposed Personal Details.”
35. Marom, “Your Bibi-Bot is Back”
36. https://Likud-2020.co.il/ – website no longer available online
37. Bein-Leibovitz, “Facebook removes Israeli Political Bots.”
38. Goldstein, “Likud Floods Social Networks”; Levi, “Facebook Diverts Electoral Discourse.”
39. Marom. “‘Ronit the Bibist’”; Surkes, “6 Million Online Followers.”
40. Big Bots Project; Bergman. “Twitter-Network Uses Fake Accounts Promoting Netanyahu”; Newman, “Netanyahu Accuses ‘Lying’”; Yaron, “No Proof of Covert Social Media”; Tsur, A Scandal of Fakes.
41. Amit, “Israel Beitenu to the CEC”; GEF 22/22, “Israel Beitenu vs. Likud, decision.”
42. Constine, “Facebook Messenger Ditches Discover.”
43. Surkes, “6 Million Online Followers.”
44. Barak, “Facebook Against Netanyahu”; Schneider, “First Win. Then Do Damage Control.”
45. Mishael Heshin’s decision in CEF 16/2001 Shas v. Pines calls the legislator to amend the law so it will apply to the Internet as well.
46. The public committee for the inspection of the Election Law (Propaganda Methods), 1959, Final Report.
47. Surkes, “CEC: No Anonymous Electioneering.”
48. Ibid.
49. Free translation from screenshot.
50. Ben-David, “How We Got Facebook to Suspend Netanyahu’s Chat-bot.”
51. Goichman, “What will the bots do?”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sharon Haleva-Amir
Sharon Haleva-Amir is a lecturer at the School of Communication, Bar-Ilan University, Israel