AN Israeli private influence firm is suspected of meddling in elections in Scotland and New York City as part of a wider global interference operation, according to France’s state disinformation watchdog.
Viginum, the French government service tasked with detecting foreign digital interference, said on Thursday that BlackCore – an Israeli-based company – had been linked to covert smear and manipulation campaigns reaching Scotland.
When referring to New York City's election, which was won by Zohran Mamdani, the body does not specify who was targeted.
Mamdani was outspoken about his support for the Palestinian cause. His team did not respond to the report, and the FBI declined comment.
A subsequent Viginum report said BlackCore-linked accounts had targeted Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney, who has described the situation in Gaza as a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe” and warned that a genocide “may be unfolding”, citing civilian casualties, destruction and statements by Israeli officials.
Neither Swinney, the SNP nor Scottish election authorities responded to requests for comment, Reuters reported.
The firm first came under scrutiny after French authorities suspected it was behind an online smear campaign targeting three hard-left, pro-Palestine France Unbowed (LFI) candidates during France’s local elections in March. Reuters previously reported that prosecutors in Paris had opened an investigation into alleged foreign interference following that campaign.
Speaking at a press conference alongside French prime minister Sebastien Lecornu, Viginum chief Marc-Antoine Brillant said technical analysis had led investigators to BlackCore, whose activities were then mapped in a detailed report.
“This modus operandi was not limited to municipal elections in France,” Brillant said. “It also appears to have been used to carry out foreign digital interference operations in other countries or regions, such as Angola, Togo, the elections in Scotland, and the 2025 municipal election in New York.”
Viginum has not yet identified who hired BlackCore.
“Our investigations did not make it possible to identify the sponsor or sponsors, if indeed they exist, behind this foreign digital interference,” Brillant added.
Lecornu said Paris had formally asked the Israeli government for explanations about BlackCore’s actions, and for help in establishing who might be behind the smear efforts.
“I do not doubt for a single instant that if a French private group, from French soil moreover, had engaged in foreign digital interference in Israel, they would have done the same to its ambassador on site,” he said.
Israel’s embassy in Paris confirmed that France had made contact and said it was awaiting further details from the French investigation. “Israel has of course no intention to interfere in the French political process, be it at the national or municipal level,” it said.
Before wiping its online footprint following questions from Reuters, BlackCore had billed itself as “an elite influence, cyber, and technology company built for the modern era of information warfare”, offering governments and political campaigns tools “to shape narratives”.
The company has not responded to repeated media requests for comment.
