By Gabriel Stargardter
PARIS, June 11 (Reuters) - Israeli firm BlackCore, suspected of interfering in France's local elections in March, is also suspected of meddling in elections in New York City and Scotland, and operating in Angola and Togo, France's disinformation detection service, Viginum, said on Thursday.
Last month, Reuters reported that French authorities suspected BlackCore was behind an online smear campaign targeting three mayoral candidates from the hard-left, pro-Palestine France Unbowed
party (LFI) in the local elections.
At a press conference on Thursday alongside French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Viginum chief Marc-Antoine Brillant said technical work had led them to BlackCore. Viginum subsequently presented a detailed report on BlackCore's alleged actions around the world.
"This modus operandi was not limited to municipal elections in France," he 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."
However, Brillant said it was still unclear who had commissioned BlackCore to meddle in France.
"Our investigations did not make it possible to identify the sponsor or sponsors, if indeed they exist, behind this foreign digital interference," he said.
Lecornu said the French government had asked Israel for explanations on BlackCore's actions, but also for help in trying to find out who may have been behind the smear campaign.
"It goes without saying that obviously we asked them for assistance and explanations," he said. "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."
Israel's embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NEW YORK, SCOTTISH ELECTIONS ALSO TARGETED
Brillant did not explicitly mention who was targeted in last year's New York City election, which was won by Zohran Mamdani. His victory thrilled many younger Jewish progressives but spooked more traditional pro-Israel New Yorkers with his outspoken support for the Palestinian cause.
Mamdani's team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did New York City and New York state officials.
The New York Police Department and the U.S. cyber defense agency CISA did not immediately return emails seeking comment. The FBI declined comment.
In a subsequent report, Viginum said it detected BlackCore-linked accounts targeting John Swinney, the First Minister of Scotland. Swinney has described the situation in Gaza as a "man-made humanitarian catastrophe," saying a genocide may be unfolding, citing civilian casualties, widespread destruction and statements by Israeli officials.
Neither Swinney nor his party, the Scottish National Party, responded to requests for comment. An email seeking comment from Scottish election officials was not immediately returned.
The governments of Angola and Togo also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Before scrubbing its online presence following enquiries from Reuters, BlackCore described itself as "an elite influence, cyber, and technology company built for the modern sera of information warfare." It said it provided governments and political campaigns with "cutting-edge strategies, advanced tools, and robust security to shape narratives."
It has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter in ParisWriting by Dominique Vidalon and Gabriel Stargardter; Additional reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington, John Irish in Paris and Sam Tabahriti in London.Editing by Susan Fenton and Matthew Lewis)
