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Fake US thinktank funded by Israel sought to prime chatbots for pro-Israel propaganda

newsAug 26, 202614229

A website using the name Hanover Institute for Public Policy published 124 reports totaling more than 560,000 words in nine days to push pro-Israel arguments and try to prime AI chatbots, the Guardian reports. The site, created by New York media firm Piro Inc and filed this month with the US Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as material distributed for the Israeli government, presents quasi-academic question-style reports such as "Is Israel Carrying Out a Genocide in Gaza?" and "Is Anti-Zionism Antisemitism?". The Hanover site has no legal presence, listed staff, bylines, or fixed address and its terms of use invoke an unnamed state where the institute is supposedly established. Guardian analysis shows the institute published 124 reports between 6 and 14 August, averaging about 4,500 words each, with 73 reports on 12 and 13 August amounting to almost 354,000 words; the site stopped publishing after the Guardian first reported it. The content is punctiliously sourced to bodies including the World Bank, UN agencies, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and Amnesty International, and a contract tied to the broader campaign commits partners to "deployment of websites and content to deliver GPT framing results on GPT conversations.". The effort forms part of a wider, multiyear program financed by tens of millions of dollars from the Israeli government and routed through intermediaries including Havas Media, according to the reporting. Piro Inc, Havas Media and Israel's advertising agency LaPam were contacted for comment but did not provide published responses in the Guardian story.

The Guardian
@theguardian.com

Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

1322h ago
allysmith.bsky.social6

Not even surprised, there’s been a constant propaganda battle being waged by Israel worldwide since 1948. A constant propaganda battle over colonization of Palestine since 1890s. Israel is built on misinformation (and genocide)

CarbonArk5

Looking forward to genocide apologists claiming this is both normal for governments to do and that pointing it out is antisemitic.

dave48.bsky.social4

No 1 will be surprised that Israel is influencing chat bots or chat bots are easy to game into regurgitating bullshit.

Blobert v3.02

See howls of “antisemitism” below:

nortonk.bsky.social2

Actual news will be kept out of sight, as AI scans the internet for your news stories, and pulls up the propaganda as real. That’s how they rig your mind, your vote, your future. Any news org still posting the truth will be shut down.

Andy Dug1

Wake up. Israel is evil.

Quoting this
Bard Of The Revolution5

This is why you should never use AI. It is a corrupted as our governments

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C)
@doctorow.pluralistic.net

Meanwhile, Carney raced to enact a plan to fire tens of thousands of civil servants and replace them with AI chatbots running American software on American chips: www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news... 21/

85Yesterday
Jason Wilson
@jasonaw.bsky.social

New from me today - lobbyists employed by Israel have published voluminous material under the banner of a non-existent thinktank in an apparent attempt to game the information people get from AI chatbots www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

51h ago
Pete Ambrose
@born-to-re-wild.bsky.social

Once again, the State of Israel using tech to support it's expansionist, genocidal regime www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

22h ago
Matthew Teller
@matthewteller.com

The Israeli government is gaming AI. Because of course it is. Half a million words published in the last few days to skew AI bots www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

11h ago
Dr Ian McCormick
@wokestudies.bsky.social

"In effort to prime chatbots to make pro-Israel arguments the [thinktank] site* published 124 reports, over 560,000 words in nine days" #propaganda * "Hanover Institute for Public Policy" www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

21h ago
Half Moon Rising
@half-moon-rising.bsky.social

#AI #AItraining #DataPoisoning “Whether it’s foreign governments, whether it’s companies, …– LLM grooming, poisoning, whatever you want to call it, is part of the new reality that we live in.” A lot of info on the mechanics of making propaganda sources invisible. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

11h ago
michaelharris58.bsky.social
@michaelharris58.bsky.social

Propaganda site operated by Israel in the US. "The site publishes in the name of the Hanover Institute for Public Policy, which apparently does not exist .. in any jurisdiction, has no physical address, and carries no named staff and no bylines on any of its reports." In the US, that's illegal.

11h ago
chipgibson.bsky.social
@chipgibson.bsky.social

Remember that chatbots can be biased, either by design or because of manipulation. I'm sure Israel isn't the only country manipulating the training data.

2h ago
BarmyRunner
@rechenberger34.bsky.social

The AI chat bots won't be able to cover up genocide. Israel knows that public opinion has swayed. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

2h ago
pammageddon.bsky.social
@pammageddon.bsky.social

Spending a billion dollars to influence AIs to lie to Americans and influence their opinions on Israel, is so much more expensive than just NOT continuing with genocide…

2h ago
Sipirtu
@sipirtu.com

A fake pro-Israel thinktank website published over 560,000 words in nine days to game AI chatbots for propaganda. Source: The Guardian Technology

2h ago
Sean Creedon
@seancreedon.bsky.social

They're even trying to train all LLMs to support genocide. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

2h ago
T and Sympathy
@tisaane12.bsky.social

Millions of dollars spent on this deception. Money the U.S. gave? Read it all. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

2h ago
1 source
theguardian.comFake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda

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