Exposing Team Jorge: Israeli Cyber-Mercenary's Role in Nigeria's 2015 Election Rigging

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Long before election interference became a global concern, an Israeli operative operating under the alias “Jorge” was offering covert influence operations as a service.

A Covert Operation Built on Stolen Data and Fake Personas

The operative was later identified as Tal Hanan, a former Israeli special forces member who established a business providing covert influence campaigns to governments, corporations, and political groups willing to pay for such services. His organization, known publicly as Team Jorge, worked in tandem with Cambridge Analytica during Nigeria’s 2015 election, with each entity assigned specific tasks under the direction of a shared client. Cambridge Analytica’s role, as disclosed in leaked communications, involved securing favorable international media coverage for Jonathan while undermining the reputation of his primary opponent, Muhammadu Buhari. Team Jorge’s responsibilities included opposition research, targeting materials that could be used to discredit Buhari’s campaign. This reportedly involved accessing private medical and financial records allegedly obtained from Buhari’s accounts.

Cambridge Analytica employees involved in the Nigerian project later recounted to journalists that they received a USB drive containing what they believed to be hacked emails and were directed to search for damaging information. Some staff members declined to comply, suspecting the data had been acquired unlawfully.

The Software Behind the Manipulation

What distinguished Team Jorge from traditional political consulting was its proprietary tool, Advanced Impact Media Solutions (AIMS), designed to generate and manage thousands of fake social media identities. By 2022, when investigators confronted Hanan, the software was reportedly controlling approximately 30,000 avatars. Each persona was constructed with fabricated backgrounds and interconnected accounts across platforms such as Instagram, Telegram, and Gmail, designed to mimic genuine human behavior. Hanan, during interactions with undercover reporters posing as clients, claimed his team had participated in 33 presidential-level election campaigns globally, achieving success in 27 of them. While Nigeria’s 2015 election was explicitly cited, the broader network of fake accounts was reportedly deployed in disinformation campaigns across roughly 20 countries, including India, Britain, Canada, and Mexico.

Why the Story Still Matters a Decade Later

The revelations about Team Jorge, published in 2023 by a coalition of 30 news organizations coordinated by the French nonprofit Forbidden Stories, highlighted the existence of a private market for election manipulation that operated in secrecy for years. Unlike state-sponsored influence efforts, which have seen increased scrutiny from intelligence agencies and platforms, contractor-led operations like Hanan’s blurred the lines between commercial consulting and covert tactics, complicating accountability.

For Indian audiences, the case holds direct significance. Investigators found that AIMS-linked disinformation campaigns had reached India, among the 20 countries where the software was deployed. This underscores how digital tools created for one election can be repurposed for another, emphasizing the global reach of such activities. As elections worldwide increasingly rely on the same social media infrastructure, the Team Jorge case serves as a warning about the potential for fabricated online consensus to shape public perception, often with delayed recognition of its artificial nature. The Nigeria 2015 election ultimately did not achieve its intended goal. Buhari secured victory, marking one of the first peaceful transitions of power between rival parties in Nigeria’s democratic history, despite the covert efforts aimed at undermining his campaign.