Foreign Influence Operations Target American Minds Through AI Manipulation
Online Misinformation Is Increasingly Aimed at Gen Z
Israel’s government has signed a $6 million contract with the American firm Clock Tower X LLC to generate media content designed to sway artificial intelligence GPT models like ChatGPT toward promoting pro-Israel narratives.
This isn’t just another PR campaign. It’s a systematic effort to rewire how Americans think by manipulating the very tools we use to find information.
Under the contract, at least 80% of the firm’s output will target young audiences across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, and other digital and broadcast platforms. The operation doesn’t stop at content creation. It aims to manipulate algorithms and manage “Artificial Intelligence frameworks” to make them more favorable toward the Israeli cause, with a target of at least 50 million impressions monthly, according to a Responsible Statecraft report revealed this past September.
Think about that. A foreign government is paying to train AI systems that millions of Americans rely on for information. They’re not just buying ads – they’re buying influence over the infrastructure of knowledge itself.
The report further stated that Clock Tower X LLC will use the AI platform MarketBrew AI — a tool specializing in search engine optimization — to boost the ranking and visibility of pro-Israel narratives in search results on platforms such as Google and Bing. When you search for information about Middle East conflicts, the results you see won’t be organic. They’ll be engineered.
The contract is part of an Israeli effort to control social media narratives in the U.S. and other countries. This operation represents a new frontier in information warfare – one where foreign governments don’t just spread propaganda, they manipulate the digital infrastructure that delivers information to citizens.
The Stated Goal Is To “Combat Anti-Semitism”
Clock Tower plans to embed its pro-Israel messaging within Salem Media Network outlets — a conservative Christian media company with ties to Lara Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The choice of partners reveals the strategic targeting: conservative Americans who traditionally support Israel but may be wavering as images of destruction in Gaza flood social media.
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, is a key figure in Israel’s latest deal. He heads Clock Tower while also serving as chief strategy officer at Salem Media Group. The man who helped engineer Trump’s 2016 digital strategy is now engineering foreign influence operations targeting American minds.
Clock Tower’s contract provides little detail about the specific messaging it will advance for Israel. However, its filing under the Foreign Agents Registration Act states that the firm was engaged to “execute a nationwide campaign in the United States to combat anti-Semitism.” Its effort will focus on a segment of the American public that has significantly drifted away from supporting Israel.
Let’s be clear: opposing a foreign government’s military actions isn’t anti-Semitism. Using that accusation to silence legitimate criticism is manipulation, plain and simple.
A new poll by The New York Times and Siena University shows that nearly two years into the Gaza war, American support for Israel has sharply declined, with a significant portion of voters voicing highly negative opinions about the Israeli government’s handling of the conflict. The numbers tell the story: Americans are seeing through the propaganda, and that’s why these operations are ramping up.
According to a Gallup survey in July, only 9% of Americans aged 18 to 34 expressed support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza. When you’ve lost 91% of young Americans, you don’t fix that with better arguments. You fix it by controlling the information ecosystem.
Technology Against Genocide
Clock Tower is carrying out its work under Havas Media Network, a global media company contracted by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Israeli Government Advertising Agency. The layers of contractors create plausible deniability while obscuring the money trail.
Havas has brought on multiple U.S. firms for the project. Earlier this month, Sludge revealed that Havas hired the Democratic-linked PR firm SKDKnickerbocker on a $600,000 contract to operate a bot farm promoting pro-Israel narratives on social media. Bot farms. Fake accounts. Artificial engagement. This is what foreign influence looks like in 2025.
Clock Tower’s contract was launched around the same time SKDKnickerbocker ended its contract. In a statement to Politico, an SKDK spokesperson declined to clarify why the firm ceased its work for Israel, saying only that the project “had run its course.” Translation: they got caught, faced backlash, and passed the operation to the next contractor.
“You can’t fight with swords anymore,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 26, 2025 in a meeting with pro-Israel influencers at Israel’s Consulate General in New York. Netanyahu called social media platforms “the most important weapon” that his country had “to secure our base of support for the U.S.,” according to a video published by Debra Lea, an influencer who attended the event.
There it is, straight from Netanyahu’s mouth. Social media isn’t just communication – it’s weaponry. And that weapon is aimed at American minds.
Since October 2023, big tech firms have had an outsized influence on the war in Gaza — from social media platforms accused of systematically censoring Palestine-related content to corporations like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Palantir securing lucrative contracts to supply the Israeli military with artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies. The same companies that control how we communicate are profiting from military contracts with foreign governments.
On September 3, 2025, Drop Site News reported that Google is carrying out a $45 million advertising deal with the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to disseminate propaganda downplaying famine in Gaza. Google – the company whose motto was once “Don’t be evil” – is now taking millions to hide evidence of starvation.
The six-month campaign, which began in June, is being conducted via Google’s YouTube and its Display & Video 360 platform, and is referred to in the government contract as hasbara. “Hasbara” – Hebrew for “explanation” – is what Israel calls its propaganda operations. At least they’re honest about it in their own language.
Last March, a joint investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Local Call found Israel’s military surveillance agency has used a vast collection of intercepted Palestinian communications to develop an advanced AI system similar to ChatGPT, aimed at revolutionizing its spying capabilities. They’re using stolen communications to build AI weapons. The same technology being used to manipulate American opinion was trained on surveillance of Palestinians.
Moreover, by June 2025, more than 1,400 veterans of Israeli intelligence are working roles within U.S. tech companies — with 900 alumni from Unit 8200 alone, Drop Site News revealed last August. Unit 8200 is Israel’s equivalent of the NSA. These aren’t just employees – they’re intelligence operatives embedded in the companies that control our digital infrastructure.
Online Misinformation Is Increasingly Aimed at Gen Z
Misinformation and disinformation are spreading online due to the rise of misleading bots, AI, and manipulated messages. A poll conducted by Pew Research Center last August on adults in 25 countries found that 72% saw the spread of misinformation online as the number one major threat today. People know they’re being lied to. They just don’t know by whom or how systematically.
Online bots are one of the reasons behind the spreading of misinformation online. According to a 2024 study by Imperva, bots make up 49% of all internet traffic. Meanwhile, “bad bots”, the ones spreading misinformation online make up 34% of internet traffic. This is partly due to the increasing popularity of AI for generating text and images. More than a third of what you see online isn’t human. It’s manufactured consent.
While a study of profiling misinformation susceptibility found that Generation Z appears to be the group most vulnerable to misinformation. They grew up online, trust digital sources, and are the primary targets of these operations. That’s not a coincidence – it’s a strategy.
The infrastructure of truth is under attack. Foreign governments are training AI systems to lie to us. They’re manipulating search results, flooding social media with bots, and embedding intelligence operatives in tech companies. This isn’t theoretical. It’s happening now, with documented contracts and billions in funding.
The Constitution doesn’t grant foreign governments the right to manipulate American minds. When our information systems are compromised by foreign influence operations, our ability to make informed decisions as citizens is compromised. This isn’t about taking sides in foreign conflicts. It’s about protecting the integrity of American discourse from systematic manipulation.
These operations will continue until Americans demand accountability. Until we recognize that our digital infrastructure is as critical as our physical infrastructure. Until we understand that information warfare is warfare.
The truth doesn’t need bot farms to defend it. It doesn’t need AI manipulation or algorithm gaming. The fact that these operations exist tells you everything about whose narrative can’t survive honest scrutiny.
Foreign influence operations targeting American minds through AI aren’t just unethical – they’re an attack on our sovereignty. And it’s time we started treating them that way.