Covert Operations, Influencer Payments, and the TikTok Acquisition: How Foreign Governments Seek to Shape US Public Opinion
KEY POINTS:
- The Israeli government allocated $2 million for a covert social media campaign to influence US lawmakers and public opinion, according to reports by The New York Times and NPR
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told influencers that acquiring influence over TikTok could be “consequential” for Israel, according to a meeting in September 2025
- Oracle, led by Larry Ellison, will oversee TikTok’s US algorithm under a new deal approved by President Trump
- Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025
The Social Media Influence Campaign
According to NPR’s July 2024 report, the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs funded a covert online influence campaign targeting US lawmakers, particularly Black Democrats, using fake social media accounts and websites. The New York Times and Haaretz reported in June 2024 that the campaign allocated $2 million and created hundreds of fake accounts posing as American students and constituents.
FakeReporter, an Israeli disinformation watchdog, identified five specific websites tied to an Israeli political consulting firm called STOIC, which was being paid by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. The campaign used ChatGPT to generate posts, as confirmed by OpenAI, and Meta claimed to have worked to disrupt the operation.
James Zogby, co-founder of the Arab American Institute, wrote on social media that “in addition to the pro-Israel lobby spending tens of millions to defame and defeat progressives in Congress, we now learn that Israel creates fake media to target friends and opponents”.
Netanyahu’s Meeting with Influencers
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with approximately 15 pro-Israel American influencers at the Israeli Consulate in New York on September 28, 2025. During the meeting, Netanyahu expressed hope that the sale of TikTok to a joint venture partially owned by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison would be completed.
According to Responsible Statecraft, Netanyahu told the group: “We have to fight the fight” on social media, adding that acquiring TikTok and X could be “consequential” for Israel. Netanyahu also said they should “talk to Elon” Musk, describing the X owner as “not an enemy; he’s a friend”.
According to Foreign Agent Registration Act filings analyzed by Responsible Statecraft, Israel’s current influencer campaign involves payments of approximately $6,000-7,000 per post through Bridge Partners and Havas Media Group Germany.
The TikTok Acquisition
Under a deal approved by President Trump in September 2025, a new joint-venture company will oversee TikTok’s US business, with ByteDance retaining less than 20% stake. Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX will control roughly 45% of TikTok USA, according to CNBC sources.
The White House confirmed that Oracle will oversee TikTok’s US algorithm, continuously monitoring how content is pushed to users. According to Cryptopolitan, Oracle will rebuild and retrain the algorithm “from the ground up” using a leased version from ByteDance.
Common Dreams reported that Oracle was founded by Larry Ellison, described as “one of Trump’s earliest backers in the Silicon Valley world”. Trump announced that media moguls Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, along with Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, would also be involved in the TikTok deal.
The Charlie Kirk Assassination
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated on September 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University. According to CBS News, Kirk was killed by a gunman who fired a single shot through the crowd while Kirk was answering student questions.
Netanyahu wrote on social media following Kirk’s death: “Charlie Kirk was murdered for speaking truth and defending freedom. A lion-hearted friend of Israel, he fought the lies and stood tall for Judeo-Christian civilization”. Following Kirk’s death, his widow Erika was unanimously elected as CEO of Turning Point USA on September 18, 2025.
The Gaza Conflict Context
UN Women estimates that more than 28,000 women and girls have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to a September 2025 report. UNICEF reported in May 2025 that more than 50,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured since October 2023.
According to Wikipedia citing the Gaza Health Ministry, over 69,100 people have been reported killed in the Gaza war as of October 1, 2025, including 67,144 Palestinians and 1,983 Israelis. A peer-reviewed analysis in The Lancet estimated 64,260 deaths from traumatic injury between October 2023 and June 2024, with researchers concluding the Gaza Health Ministry undercounted trauma-related deaths by 41%.
The UN has noted challenges in verifying exact casualty figures, with spokesperson Farhan Haq stating that while they cannot independently verify each death, figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry “have proven to be generally accurate” in past conflicts.
International Response
In July 2024, rights groups sent a letter to President Biden asking his administration to “treat reports of inappropriate Israeli influence operations with the same seriousness that it has allegations of Russian and Iranian influence campaigns”.
According to Responsible Statecraft, despite the revelations about the influence campaign, “only a handful of policymakers have even acknowledged” the reports, with most lawmakers who were targeted declining to comment.
Analysis: The New Digital Battlefield
The documented efforts by the Israeli government to influence American public opinion through covert social media campaigns and the strategic importance placed on controlling platforms like TikTok represent a significant development in international relations and digital diplomacy.
The convergence of traditional lobbying, paid influencer campaigns, and attempts to gain control over major social media platforms suggests that digital spaces have become critical battlegrounds for shaping public opinion and policy. The involvement of major tech companies and billionaire donors in these efforts raises questions about the intersection of technology, foreign policy, and democratic discourse.
