Conflicts and issues related to elections and governance have persisted for long In the African continent due to security challenges like insurgency and political instability. While the continent has witnessed a recent surge in the number of coups leaving Africans in a perennial state of uncertainty, another pressing issue that threatens Africa’s democratic survival is rampant election rigging.
As many African countries grapple with an economic downturn and heightened insecurity, in 2023, the continent is set to hold several high-stakes elections. However, the credibility of elections in Africa have often been violated by non-state actors and as 2023 promises to be a busy year for African politics and democracy, shocking reports have emerged already on elections in Africa and how foreign forces have sought to undermine and influence them in various ways.
Israeli firm influencing African elections
According to a report, an Israeli firm sought to influence more than 30 elections around the world – with the two-thirds in Africa- for clients by hacking, sabotage and spreading disinformation, according to an undercover media investigation consortium named ‘Forbidden Stories.’
The Israeli firm, with no legal existence, is dubbed as “Team Jorge” by journalists who posed as potential clients in order to gather information on its methods and capabilities. As per the report, they chose this nickname because of the pseudonym of one of its leaders, Tal Hanan. The company is composed of former members of Israeli security services.
Thus, in what could be termed as the biggest expose in the history of elections, this investigation has revealed that a team of Israeli contractors under its mastermind Tal Hanan, rigged over 30 elections using hacking.
So how did this team work to influence elections?
There was a huge army which worked on spreading out thousands of fake social media posts on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. In fact, Hanan and his team also strewn about other accounts which had sensitive details such as credit card information and other money wallets.
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With ever-increasing internet penetration and a growing digital space coupled with a huge youth population, social media plays a huge role to sway voters. Especially in countries like Nigeria, the role of Social Media has been embroiled in controversy and there have been growing calls for platforms to step up content moderation.
Further, the most shocking revelation made by Hanan was when in one of the conversations, he claimed, “We are now involved in one election in Africa … We have a team in Greece and a team in Emirates … You follow the leads. [We have completed] 33 presidential-level campaigns, 27 of which were successful.”
Moreover, in more than six hours of secretly recorded meetings, Hanan and his team spoke of how they could gather intelligence on rivals, including by using hacking techniques to access Gmail and Telegram accounts. They boasted of planting material in legitimate news outlets, which are then amplified by the Aims bot-management software.
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As per the report, much of their strategy revolved around disrupting or sabotaging rival campaigns. Earlier, there were reports of fake news flooding Africa’s conflict-ridden Sahel sowing discord and confusion in the increasingly volatile region.
It is common in the region for doctored news bulletins and altered photos spread like wildfires on social networks in the region where access to traditional media is patchy.
Thus, such attempts at spreading disinformation via social media platforms etc raise alarm bells for democracies around the world and especially for Africa where democratic survival has already been faced with numerous challenges. Recently, Israel and Sudan had finalised a deal to normalise relations during a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
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It has been observed that Israel of late is trying to increase its footprints in the African continent. Recently, Chadian President Mahamat Deby also met with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
While it can’t be denied that Israel making inroads into Africa and building ties may yield many benefits for Africa but given the fact that both Sudan and Chad where Israel is recently making overtures to are on their path to democratic transition. Both countries’ democracy have struggled over the years and any attempt by foreign entities to influence or undermine its possible elections must be resisted at all cost.
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