Israeli influence-for-hire company accused of helping Angola run covert social media operation

17 September 2026 , 16:37

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Israeli influence-for-hire company accused of helping Angola run covert social media operation

Israeli influence-for-hire company BlackCore seems to have trained members of an Angolan government communications team and assisted them in conducting a covert social media campaign, according to research by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.

Citizen Lab examined websites and other online infrastructure associated with BlackCore and obtained what researchers identified as the company’s final report on a training program in Angola. One BlackCore webpage, titled “Angolan Government Campaign,” promoted training in storytelling, copywriting, traffic management, and social media operations. It also outlined plans to launch live campaigns on Meta and TikTok.

The final report mentioned that the program began on January 19, 2026, and continued for over 14 weeks, concluding sometime in April. BlackCore described the objective as replacing what it referred to as “amateur production practices” with a “professional, robust, and scalable Architecture for State communications.”

According to the report, participants created more than 40 pieces of content, with trainers evaluating at least 24 publications. Materials reviewed by Citizen Lab also revealed Facebook and Instagram accounts and pages utilized in the campaign.

One of these was a Facebook page for a claimed news outlet called Agita News, which published its own content alongside links to an external website, agitanews.net. Both the page and the website were offline by the time Citizen Lab released its research. A spreadsheet embedded in BlackCore’s report listed posts, the Facebook groups where they were redistributed, and names that researchers determined were artificial personas used to manage accounts and publish content.

Citizen Lab identified two such Facebook personas with high confidence. Both had been removed from Facebook, and both seemed to use AI-generated profile pictures. One posed as an Angolan political activist. 

BlackCore’s own materials tracked views and engagement generated by the campaign. Screenshots included in its final report showed some deceptive posts receiving around 20,000 likes. Posts that remained online when Citizen Lab conducted its research were nearing 50,000 likes.

The researchers stated they could not independently confirm that the training occurred or identify the Angolan participants and BlackCore trainers. However, after matching details in the final report with BlackCore websites and social media accounts mentioned in the documents, Citizen Lab assessed that it was “highly likely” the program occurred as described.

Citizen Lab said it was unable to find a current contact point for BlackCore to seek commentary, as the company’s public-facing websites and social media accounts had been removed.

Sophia Martinez

World Affairs Correspondent