AI in Israel's 2026 Elections: Parties Favor Meta Platforms Over TikTok

The 2026 Knesset elections campaign is increasingly relying on artificial intelligence, with recent data revealing clear strategic trends among political parties. A research initiative by the Open University, titled "This is in AI," tracks transparency in political advertising.

Where Parties Deploy AI Content

Recent data shows that the battle for voter consciousness via AI tools is concentrated on Meta's established platforms. Facebook leads the trend with 33% of all AI items, followed closely by Instagram with 29%. This indicates that politicians are targeting older demographics and traditional politically engaged profiles.

In contrast, platforms characterized by faster dynamics show more moderate activity. X accounts for 21% of publications, while TikTok closes the list with just 17%. Political headquarters prefer platforms supporting static images and text-combined posts, as producing short full-motion videos for TikTok remains complex and costly.

Notable AI Campaign Videos

Research highlights two contrasting campaign strategies utilizing synthetic media:

• "Hamas Hospital" by Likud: A synthetic simulation depicting medical staff and patients as masked Hamas operatives, warning against political cooperation with Mansour Abbas. This illustrates negative, fear-based AI propaganda.

• "Fruit Wedding" by The Democrats: Animated fruit characters in a staged wedding featuring a strawberry groom and peach bride, accompanied by the slogan "Only the Democrats can be trusted" and a pride flag. This employs a positive, humorous strategy appealing to younger audiences.

The research is funded by the Meir Shamgar Center for Digital Law and Innovation and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Tel Aviv University, with support from The Bright Initiative by Bright Data.