40 million calls without control: The industry behind the politicians' phone calls

The article reveals the technological industry behind the mass political calls in the 2026 elections: automatic dialing systems, voter management software, and collection of sensitive information. According to CallMarker, the parties spent about 25 million shekels on 30-40 million calls, including AI bots, voice recordings, and human calls.

The article reveals the technological industry behind the mass political calls that Israelis receive during the elections for the 26th Knesset. According to an estimate by CallMarker, the parties spent about 25 million shekels on phone calls in the campaign, totaling 30 to 40 million calls. The systems include automatic dialing, voter management software like the Israeli 'Elector', and collection of sensitive personal information through responses to phone key presses. The article explains how the parties use the voter registry and additional data to build recipient lists, and notes the Privacy Protection Authority's guidelines from June 2026 that limit the use of information. The costs include not only message distribution but also database maintenance, activity analysis, and call center operations. The article highlights the difficulty in tracking the scope of distribution and the amounts paid by the parties, and the importance of protecting voter privacy given the collection of sensitive information.