France accuses Israeli firm of interfering in Scottish elections

France's cybersecurity agency Viginum has publicly accused the Israeli tech firm BlackCore of interfering in the Scottish parliamentary elections earlier this year by targeting First Minister John Swinney, the Scottish National Party (SNP), and the Scottish government.

According to Viginum's report, BlackCore used proxy social media accounts on four occasions to target these entities. The campaign ran from January 6 to May 8, covering the election period. At least 256 accounts on platform X were mobilised, distributing around 1,400 comments. Swinney's account was targeted 652 times, the SNP's 338 times, and the Scottish government's 112 times.

At a press conference alongside the French prime minister, Viginum's head Marc-Antoine Brillant said the investigation identified BlackCore as the perpetrator, but it remains unclear who commissioned the operation. Brillant noted that the same modus operandi was used in other elections, including French municipal elections, the New York mayoral election (won by Zohran Mamdani), as well as elections in Togo and Angola.

Swinney has been a vocal critic of Israeli actions in Gaza and the West Bank and imposed sanctions on the Israel Defense Forces by withholding state grants to arms firms supplying the IDF and freezing export support to Israel. The Israeli government denied any interest in interfering in foreign elections and said it would await the French report before deciding on an investigation.

BlackCore, which previously described itself as "an elite influence, cyber and technology company," removed its website after being contacted by Reuters and did not respond to comment. Swinney called on the UK government to prioritise countering foreign election interference, describing orchestrated disinformation as a real and present threat to democracy.