On Tuesday, RS published a story about how Israel is paying a cohort of 14-18 social media influencers around $7,000 per post to promote the country’s image in the American public. The campaign, nicknamed “Esther Project,” is coordinated by a newly created firm working out of a Capitol Hill rowhouse called Bridges Partners, and is slated to run through November.
However, as of publication, it is unclear who the influencers themselves are. According to the contract, they were supposed to begin posting on behalf of Israel in July, yet have not registered as foreign agents. By not registering as foreign agents and disclosing their names, the influencers are likely in violation of the U.S.’s premier foreign lobbying law, the Foreign Agents Registration Act. FARA experts say they must also mark their content on social media so that viewers know it is content sponsored by Israel.
Ben Freeman, the Director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute, said that the law in this case is straightforward. “If you're being paid by a foreign government to influence the American public on that government's behalf you should register under FARA.”
Freeman added, “If these influencers are knowingly accepting money from the Israeli government to produce content for the Israeli government that's being viewed by thousands or millions of their followers in the U.S., it's not at all clear why they would not be required to register under FARA.”
Currently, the Bridges Partners contract only lists one registered foreign agent: Uri Steinberg, a consultant who owns a 50% stake in the firm.
A lawyer who specializes in FARA who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter explained that the influencers themselves are required to register as foreign agents.
“Anyone who is distributing material propaganda and other informational materials aimed at the United States audience on behalf of a foreign government agency would need to be disclosed somewhere, including potentially by filing a short form registration,” the lawyer said during a phone call with RS.
In September of last year, the Department of Justice indicted two RT employees that were covertly funding well-known influencers like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Jonhson on behalf of Russia through a Tennessee-based company called Tenet Media. The influencers claimed they were unaware of the source of the funding. To warrant criminal penalties, violators of FARA have to do so “willfully.”
To stay apprised of the law, FARA experts explained the influencers working for Israel also need to include a disclaimer on social media posts that their content is paid for by the Israeli government, either in the post itself or on the creator’s profile.
Many registered foreign agents already attach this disclaimer on social media. For instance, below is a post on X from former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, now a registered foreign agent of the Republic of Srpska, a political entity in Bosnia.
Freeman noted that this statement, known as a "conspicuous statement,” is “basically the foreign influence equivalent of the standard sponsorship flagged posts you see all over social media.”
“It just lets social media users know that what they're seeing is being paid for by the Israeli government, and then they can judge it accordingly,” he added.
Currently, it does not appear that any of the 14-18 influencers working for Bridges Partners have included the conspicuous statement on major social media platforms. A search for the standardized statement with the firm’s name, Bridges Partners, on X, Tik Tok, and Instagram did not yield any immediate results. Steinberg, the part-owner of Bridges Partners, did not respond to a request for comment.
Social media Influencers have taken several trips to Israel in recent months, but it’s unclear if they have any relation to Esther Project. Israel365 Action organized a trip of influencers to Israel in August, funded in part through a $86,000 contract from the Israeli Foreign Ministry. One of the attendees, Lance Johnston, said that his views of Israel evolved during the visit. “I’m now more like, I’m fine with sending them weapons,” he said. Last Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with another cohort of several influencers, in a meeting facilitated by a group called Generation Zion.
In a post on X, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) pointed out that influencers working for a foreign government are likely running afoul of the law by not identifying themselves. “Any social media influencer, if they are getting paid by a foreign country, they have to register under FARA,” she said in an interview with One America News.
“In this particular case, the foreign government is pursuing a specific agenda, it is not just friendly relations between our countries. There is a war going on in Gaza,” added former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who hosts the OAN program.
