Arutz Sheva's Hebrew language website had to take down a reader poll following an organized effort, apparently by left-wing activists, to manipulate the results.
The poll, which was published last week, asked readers their opinion regarding matters such as the continuation of the war and a deal to free the hostages. Initially, the poll's results were reasonable and reliable, but a short time later, there was a drastic and unusual change. A technical inspection by the site's team found an abnormal flow of thousands of votes within a short amount of time. The thousands of voters were found to have accessed the poll through a direct link, without entering the site at all.
In addition, the editorial board received screenshots of messages on groups affiliated with the anti-government "Kaplan" protest movement calling on members to "vote in a manner that would change the results." An internal investigation found that the abnormal votes came from users with IP addresses from geographic areas that do not match the site's target audience.
Due to the concerning data and in light of concern for intentional and considerate manipulation, the site decided to remove the poll and to draw lessons ahead to take technical steps to prevent repeat incidents.
Arutz Sheva's editors stressed: "We will not be deterred by organized actions of such and such groups. We did homework, and we will know for next time how to fight off such attacks and neutralize them. Additional polls will continue to go up soon, we will continue to provide Arutz Sheva's readers with the opportunity to influence and discover the true mindset of the religious Zionist community."
