SKDK Terminates Engagement with Israel Following Bot Program Revelations

Source: iViews September 17, 2025

A prominent Democratic public affairs firm, SKDK, abruptly terminated its $600,000 contract with the Israeli government nearly seven months early, a decision that came directly on the heels of investigative reports exposing a planned social media manipulation campaign.

The agreement, which was slated to run through March 2026, involved traditional media outreach to promote Israel's perspective on the Gaza conflict, but was revealed to also include a "bot-based program" designed to systematically "flood the zone" on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and YouTube with pro-Israel narratives.

While SKDK officially stated the project had simply "run its course," the scandal surrounding the exposed use of automated tools for foreign influence has drawn intense criticism and raised significant ethical concerns about the integrity of online political discourse and the blurry lines between public relations and digital propaganda.