Viginum said BlackCore had focused its operations on municipal elections in France but had also targeted the mayoral elections in New York, won by Zohran Mamdani, and other countries such as Togo and Angola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday alongside the French prime minister, S\u00e9bastien Lecornu, Viginum\u2019s head of digital interference, Marc-Antoine Brillant, said its investigations had identified BlackCore as the culprit but that it was still unclear who had commissioned the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said: \u201cThis modus operandi was not limited to municipal elections in France. It also appears to have \u2060been used to carry out foreign digital interference operations in other countries or regions, such as Angola, Togo, the elections in Scotland<\/a>, and the 2025 municipal election in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brillant added: \u201cOur investigations did not make it possible to identify the sponsor or sponsors, if indeed they exist, behind this foreign digital interference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Viginum report alleges that Swinney, the SNP and the devolved government in Edinburgh were targeted by a specific campaign between 6 January and 8 May, before and during a hard-fought election for the Scottish parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It said BlackCore had been involved with the \u201ccoordinated posting\u201d and mobilisation of at least 256 accounts on the social media platform X, which enabled the distribution of about 1,400 comments. Swinney\u2019s account was targeted 652 times, the SNP\u2019s 338 and the Scottish government\u2019s 112.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Swinney and fellow ministers have been vocal in their criticism of the Israeli government\u2019s actions in Gaza and the West Bank, and have imposed a form of sanctions on the Israel Defense Forces<\/a> by withholding state grants to arms firms that supply the IDF and freezing support for exports to Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The news agency Reuters, which has previously reported on BlackCore, said the company had scrubbed its website after it was contacted by its reporters and had not responded to requests to comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Previously BlackCore had described itself as \u201can \u2060elite influence, cyber and technology company built for the modern era of information warfare\u201d. It had \u200bsaid it provided governments and political campaigns with \u201ccutting-edge strategies, advanced tools and robust security to shape narratives\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Israeli government said it was waiting to receive the French report before deciding whether to conduct its own investigation, and denied it had any interest in interfering in other countries\u2019 elections. The Scottish government and the Cabinet Office have been approached for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Swinney said online disinformation posed \u201ca real and present threat\u201d to democracy, and urged the UK government to make hostile state interference a much higher priority in line with recommendations from Philip Rycroft\u2019s recent review<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is clear that orchestrated disinformation campaigns and foreign election interference are issues that need to be taken seriously,\u201d Swinney said. \u201cUrgent steps need to be taken to counter the threat of foreign online political interference and ensure that our democratic processes are not undermined in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking in general terms, Lecornu said this week that there was a risk that next year\u2019s French presidential election could be targeted by international interference and disinformation, without naming any potential perpetrators. After meeting political parties to discuss this threat with them, he said \u201cthe entire political class\u201d could be a target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/b51cffc18caaa6752247867e2adf6c6e645e0f48\/104_30_7055_4648\/master\/7055.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none\")
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