Israeli company finds 40% of Jackson Hinkle's followers to be fake, report shows

American social media persona and political commentator Jackson Hinkle utilized fake accounts to garner more followers on X, according to a New York Times report on Thursday, citing findings from two Israeli research companies.

Throughout the Israel-Hamas war, Hinkle has gained an abundance of followers and has shared his view of the conflict on his X account. He is famous for his anti-Israel posts in which he has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza and has labelled Israel as “the problem” in the Middle East, among others.

The GENOCIDE is in GAZA — not Xinjiang, China. pic.twitter.com/dgifRUo6Ci

— Jackson Hinkle (@jacksonhinklle) April 10, 2024

Following the publishing of the report by the New York Times, Hinkle claimed it was a “Zionist hit piece.”

ZIONIST hit piece just dropped in the New York Times. pic.twitter.com/w5iTVRoDg7

— Jackson Hinkle (@jacksonhinklle) April 11, 2024

Research companies find fake accounts and organized networks

The report found that according to the company Next Dim, an organized network with some 20,000 accounts which had in the past shared and promoted content criticizing the Japanese government in Mandarin, had begun doing the same for Hinkle’s posts following the onset of the war.

Cyabra, an additional Israeli company mentioned in the New York Times report, found that in the first 19 days of the Gaza war, Hinkle acquired some 1.2 million followers, of which some 40% were inauthentic.

According to the New York newspaper, Hinkle said he was unbothered by these findings since bots were ubiquitous on social media.

He also admitted that some of the posts he shared included mistakes, however, he added that these were inadvertent and that in view of Israel's actions in Gaza he was in the right.