The Israeli company, BlackCore, which is suspected of interfering in local elections in France, is now facing serious accusations of interfering in electoral processes in New York and Scotland, as well as operations in Angola and Togo, the French disinformation detection service, Viginum, announced.
Last month, Reuters reported that French authorities suspect BlackCore was behind an online smear campaign directed against three mayoral candidates from the radical left and pro-Palestinian party La France Insoumise (LFI) during local elections.
At a press conference held on Thursday alongside French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Viginum director Marc-Antoine Brillant said that the investigators' technical work had led them directly to the Israeli company. Viginum subsequently published a detailed report on BlackCore's alleged activities worldwide, Reuters reported.
"This operating model was not limited to municipal elections in France. It appears to have also been used for external digital interference operations in other countries and regions, such as Angola, Togo, elections in Scotland, and the municipal elections in New York in 2025," Brillant said.
However, Brillant stressed that it is still not clear who hired BlackCore for the intervention in France, as the investigation has failed to identify the campaign's sponsors.
France demands clarification from Israel
Prime Minister Lecornu stated that the French government has officially requested explanations from Israel regarding BlackCore's activities, as well as assistance in discovering who is behind the smear campaign.
"I have no doubt that, if a private French group had carried out an external digital intervention in Israel from French territory, they would have acted similarly towards our ambassador there," Lecornu said.
The Israeli embassy in Paris confirmed that France has contacted it and that it is awaiting details of the French investigation in order to conduct its own investigation.
"Israel, of course, has no intention of interfering in the French political process, whether at the national or local level," the embassy's official statement said.
Pro-Palestinian politicians targeted in New York and Scotland
Brillant did not specify clearly who the target was in last year's New York election, in which Zohran Mamdani won. However, Mamdani's victory was welcomed by many young progressive Jews, but caused concern in more traditional pro-Israel circles because of his open support for the Palestinian cause.
Mamdani's team, New York officials, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) did not immediately comment or respond to requests for comment.
In a subsequent report, Viginum said it had discovered accounts linked to BlackCore that directly targeted John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland.
Swinney had previously described the situation in Gaza as a “humanitarian catastrophe of human origin,” stating that genocide may be taking place there, citing the high number of civilian casualties, widespread destruction and statements by Israeli officials. Neither he nor his party, the Scottish National Party (SNP), responded to requests for comment.
The governments of Angola and Togo have also not yet reacted to this issue.
Before completely deleting its online presence after questions from Reuters journalists, BlackCore described itself as an "elite influence, cybersecurity and technology company, built for the modern era of information warfare."
In its promotional materials, the company claimed to offer governments and political campaigns “high-end strategies, advanced tools, and robust security to shape public narratives.”
So far, BlackCore has not responded to repeated media requests for comment. /Telegrafi/
