Research
Democracy Research Hub
Electoral Integrity 2026
Co-sponsored with Chief Justice Meir Shamgar Center for Digital Law and Innovation, TAU, private donors and Bright Data.
This year, the Research Hub focused on the pressing challenges of election integrity in Israel 2026.
Israel is approaching the 2026 elections in a period characterized by acute political polarization, rapid technological change, and a sustained decline in public trust in democratic institutions. Against this backdrop, growing concern has emerged regarding the potential use of advanced technologies by political actors in ways that may undermine electoral integrity, a fundamental prerequisite for a legitimate and functioning democratic system. In an era of accelerating technological change, and particularly during an election year, a substantial proportion of political activity in Israel takes place in the digital sphere and increasingly relies on artificial intelligence and synthetic content. These developments create significant risks to electoral integrity, including information manipulation, gaps in regulatory oversight and enforcement, and diminished transparency and public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.
The research hub responded to these risks by formulating three principal objectives: (1) to map emerging threats to electoral integrity in the digital sphere; (2) to analyze the underlying technological, legal, and other factors contributing to these threats; and (3) to develop both research-based and practical responses to address them. The hub advances multidisciplinary research involving engineers, computer scientists, communications researchers, sociologists, legal scholars, and political scientists. In parallel, the project is establishing a team of senior legal experts specializing in election law, some serving pro bono and others on a paid basis. Their role is to translate research findings into legal arguments, engage with relevant governmental and regulatory bodies, including the Central Elections Committee, the Privacy Protection Authority, and the Second Authority for Television and Radio, and where necessary, pursue appeals and petitions before the courts.
Research Projects
Beyond Labeling Requirements: Synthetic Political Advertisements as a Challenge to Electoral Integrity in Israel
Prof. Anat Ben-David, Sociology, Political Science and Communication, The Open University of Israel
This study examines the threat posed by synthetic propaganda and inauthentic political content in the digital sphere. It develops a multilayered taxonomy of synthetic political advertisements, including textual, visual, and audio content—and establishes an infrastructure for the real-time monitoring and archiving of such advertisements throughout the election campaign. The infrastructure combines automated classification with human oversight, enabling the systematic identification of synthetic political propaganda in Israel.
The research output includes a documented database analyzing patterns of use and dissemination, as well as a policy paper identifying existing regulatory gaps and providing an evidence base for institutional action during the election period. It provides an empirical picture of the use of AI throughout the election campaign: the scope of use, who is using it, what types of content and for what purposes, how usage patterns change throughout the campaign, and what uses may raise questions of transparency, deception, and the integrity of the election.
The findings are shared with both the Central Elections Committee and the legal team and will be translated into legal petitions where appropriate. The data is accessible to the public and is updated on an ongoing basis, so that it is possible to track the trends as they develop and not only in retrospect. For more information: https://zebeai.info/
Legal Aspects of Addressing Synthetic Political Advertisements
Prof. Niva Elkin-Koren, The Chief Justice Meir Shamgar Center for Digital Law and Innovation, Prof. Issi Rosen-Zvi, the Edmond & Lily Center for Ethics, TAU and Adv. Amit Ashkenazi, University of Haifa; former Legal Adviser to the Israel National Cyber Directorate
This study examines the legal and enforcement gaps arising from the growing use of synthetic political propaganda. It analyzes Israel’s existing legal framework, including election law, consumer protection law, defamation law, privacy and personal-data law, and the responsibilities of digital platforms, and assesses the capacity of these legal frameworks to address AI-based technologies.
The research outputs include legal opinions and operational recommendations for the Central Elections Committee and other enforcement authorities, alongside the development of interpretive tools that can facilitate real-time legal responses to instances of harm to electoral integrity during the election campaign.
As part of this initiative, Prof. Niva Elkin-Koren and Prof. Issi Rosen-Zvi submitted a petition to the Central Elections Committee seeking recognition as amicus curiae based on a large-scale comparative study of how democracies regulate generative AI, synthetic content, and deepfakes in electoral processes. The petition followed the publication by one of the political parties of an image that had been manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) to create a misleading representation. In response, the Chair of the Committee, the Vice President of the Supreme Court, sent a letter of appreciation noting that the research presented in the amicus curiae would inform and assist the work of the Elections Committee, and that the Committee would consult with us in the future (please see the letter in Hebrew here).
Following the submission of the amicus brief and the strengthening of our collaboration with the Central Elections Committee and its legal team, Prof. Niva Elkin-Koren and Adv. Amit Ashkenazi assisted in formulating the provisions concerning the disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence in election campaigns and facilitated the Chair of the Central Elections Committee to establish rules on the matter. The bill was subsequently debated in the Knesset, and the regulations were amended accordingly.
Counter-Narratives for Addressing Disinformation
Prof. Irad Ben-Gal, Dr. Ofer Weintraub, Carmel Kronfeld, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University
This study addresses the threat posed by disinformation and coordinated campaigns in the digital sphere through the development of counter-narrative strategies. The research combines human expertise with AI-based tools to identify problematic narratives, map dissemination networks, and analyzes patterns of influence.
The research outputs include an AI-based model for generating counter-narratives tailored to different audiences, impact measures for assessing their effectiveness, and insights aimed at reducing the influence of harmful content during the election period.
Protecting Voter Privacy and the Freedom to Vote Without Pressure
Prof. Michael Birnhack and the Elga Cegla Privacy Clinic, Buchmann Faculty of Law
In recent Israeli election cycles, polling-station committee members and party observers have increasingly transmitted real-time information to political parties regarding which individuals have voted. Parties use this information for Election Day mobilization efforts, which can result in intensive and targeted pressure on individual voters. Following proceedings initiated by attorney Shahar Ben-Meir before the Central Elections Committee, the Faculty of Law’s Privacy Clinic was granted permission to join the case and submitted a detailed legal opinion addressing the privacy implications of this practice.
In a significant decision, the Chair of the Central Elections Committee, Supreme Court Deputy President Justice Noam Sohlberg, accepted the Privacy Clinic’s principal arguments. He determined that information about whether an individual has voted – not only how they voted –constitutes sensitive private information, and that its transmission to political parties infringes voters’ privacy. The decision further established that information provided at polling stations may be used solely to verify eligibility to vote, and that transferring it to political parties for other purposes exceeds the authority of polling-station officials.
The decision represents an important achievement in protecting electoral privacy and individuals’ freedom to vote—or not to vote—without targeted political pressure. Following the ruling, the Privacy Protection Authority was asked to take steps to ensure its implementation, while the Likud party sought reconsideration of the decision; further proceedings are pending.
Safeguarding Election Integrity Through Polling Transparency
Prof. Lior Sheffer, The School of Political Science, Government and International Affairs
An expert opinion, prepared by senior scholars in political science and psychology at Tel Aviv University, submitted to the Chair of the Central Elections Committee, addresses significant shortcomings in the transparency and oversight of election polling. The opinion emphasizes that election polls do not merely measure public opinion: research demonstrates that they can influence voter behavior, including strategic voting, turnout, and perceptions of parties’ electoral prospects. Effective transparency requirements are therefore important for protecting the integrity of the electoral process and preventing misleading or manipulative polling.
The experts examined reports submitted by major polling organizations during the most recent Knesset election and identified substantial gaps between existing legal reporting requirements and their implementation. The examination found incomplete and inconsistent disclosure concerning, among other matters, survey questions, sampling methods, sample composition and representativeness, response rates, weighting procedures, and raw party-support figures. The opinion argues that these deficiencies make it difficult – if not impossible – for the public, researchers, and regulators to assess whether published polls were conducted according to accepted statistical standards and whether their results are reliable.
The opinion proposes concrete reforms to strengthen the Central Elections Committee’s oversight, most notably the adoption of a standardized digital reporting form requiring polling organizations to provide complete and consistent methodological information. The proposed framework includes disclosure of the full questionnaire, sampling and weighting methods, sample representativeness, raw results, fieldwork dates, and appropriately calculated margins of error. By commissioning this work, the Safra Center seeks to translate academic expertise into practical institutional reform, strengthening transparency, accountability, and public confidence in information that can materially influence democratic elections.
The Democracy Resources Project - Making Academic Knowledge on Democracy Accessible in Hebrew
Alongside the project’s research, legal, and regulatory activities, a public platform has been established to make academic knowledge concerning democracy accessible to Hebrew-speaking audiences. The platform expands public access in Israel to current, high-quality academic research on issues at the heart of democratic discourse, including democratic institutions, electoral systems, freedom of expression, media, disinformation, technology, human rights, and civil society.
The initiative was established in recognition of the fact that a substantial body of research on democracy is published in English or in academic formats that are not readily accessible to the general public. The platform addresses this gap by translating, summarizing, adapting, and presenting academic research in clear and accessible Hebrew, in collaboration with the researchers themselves. The platform constitutes a complementary component of the Electoral Integrity Project. While the research, legal proceedings, and institutional collaborations seek to address concrete threats to electoral integrity, the platform aims, over the longer term, to strengthen democratic literacy, access to reliable information, and the public’s capacity to participate in informed, knowledge-based public discourse. The full collection of research summaries is available here.
Civil Society Election Simulation - Collaboration with the Central Elections Committee
On June 23, 2026, a civil-society election simulation was conducted as part of the collaboration with the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Cyber Program. The simulation focused on scenarios involving disinformation, synthetic propaganda, digital influence operations, erosion of public trust, and challenges to the integrity of the electoral process.
The simulation is designed for civil-society organizations, media organizations, researchers, and policy experts, and is intended to examine mechanisms of response, coordination, and real-time decision-making. The insights generated through the simulation will be incorporated into a final report containing operational recommendations for strengthening civil-society and institutional preparedness.
