France says Israeli firm BlackCore linked to elections interference abroad

France’s election watchdog says the digital tactics linked to Israeli firm BlackCore were not confined to French town halls. The service says the same pattern surfaced in New York City, Scotland, Angola and Togo, raising the prospect of a cross-border interference method that can be repurposed for local races far beyond France.

In Paris, alongside Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Viginum chief Marc-Antoine Brillant said technical work led investigators to BlackCore. He said the company’s method was “not limited to municipal elections in France” and said it appeared to have been used in other countries and regions, including Scotland, Angola, Togo and the 2025 municipal election in New York City. The finding matters because it suggests a professionalized influence operation may have traveled from one political system to another with little change in technique.

Viginum said it detected four foreign digital interference operations during France’s municipal elections on March 15 and March 22, 2026. Alongside the new report, the service released a separate technical analysis of a new information modus operandi it calls Rokh Solis. Viginum, which is charged with protecting France and its interests against foreign digital interference, said the BlackCore case was part of a broader effort to document how online manipulation campaigns are assembled and concealed.

French authorities had already suspected BlackCore of running an online smear campaign against three France Unbowed mayoral candidates ahead of the March 2026 local elections. The new allegations widen that picture, suggesting not just one domestic campaign but a repeatable cross-border playbook built around fake accounts, coordinated messaging and candidate-targeted attacks.

The unanswered question is who paid for it. Brillant said it remained unclear who had commissioned BlackCore to meddle in France, leaving open the possibility of state-backed, political or private clients behind the operation. For the United States, the apparent New York City link is the most sensitive part of the case: if foreign operators can move from Paris to New York and still evade detection, election safeguards are being tested not just by one firm, but by a model of interference designed to adapt quickly across borders.