Investigation identifies tech entrepreneur behind pro-Israel hate network: report

A Florida-based technology entrepreneur is a driving force behind a pro-Israel disinformation network that seeks to influence public opinion on the Gaza conflict, an investigation by British newspaper The Guardian has found.

According to the investigation, Daniel Linden, who co-authored a guide for OnlyFans users, is one of the main people behind the Shirion Collective, an organization that harasses pro-Palestinian activists and offers money to anyone who publicly reveals their online identity.

The organization is also responsible for spreading conspiracy theories centered on figures such as George Soros. It has boasted of an AI surveillance platform but has not provided any concrete details on how the alleged technology works.

The Guardian said the investigation used public records and open-source materials “to confirm information originally provided by the White Rose Society, an Australian anti-fascist research collective”.

Shirion Collective attempts to spread disinformation in the US, UK and Australia.

Linden launched Shirion’s crowdfunding effort and appears to play a central role in running the network’s social media accounts, including coordinating the group’s efforts on a Telegram channel with 885 members, the Guardian reported.

Public records and online materials show he lives in Gainesville, Florida, but has also recently been in Durango, Colorado, and Medellin, Colombia.

The Guardian said it had emailed Linden at several addresses associated with him and his business ventures, and attempted to reach him by phone, text message, a direct message on Reddit and a post tagging an X account associated with one of his ventures, seeking comment on this reporting, but had received no response.

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Shirion was criticized in the US Congress and attracted worldwide media attention for his attempts to suppress criticism of Israel’s behavior in the Gaza Strip.

Shirion organized two GoFundMe fundraisers in April and May 2024 for an effort in which trucks with large screens showed footage of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel near universities in various U.S. cities.

The move drew attention from critics, including Representative Ilhan Omar, who spoke out in Congress against Shirion’s screening of the footage at the University of California, Los Angeles protest camp.

Starting in late 2023, Shirion began offering so-called “bounties” on X for identifying people involved in pro-Palestinian protests who they labeled as anti-Semitic.

On the Internet, the group has repeatedly celebrated the deaths of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including Palestinian journalists and children.

On April 27, Shirion responded to a video containing images of destruction in the Gaza Strip, posting, “I love that Gaza looks like this now,” adding “FAFO,” an acronym for “fuck around and find out.”