Data company records show a surge in English-language online criticism of the legal overhaul

According to an Israeli data company, online discussions in the English-speaking world criticizing the government’s plans for a radical overhaul of the judiciary have increased in recent months.

Innovesta said Monday that its proprietary data monitoring and processing software has found “evidence of a rise in global community concerns about the Israeli government’s corporate governance.”

Data collected from social media “reveals an increase in negative discourse about judicial reform and fears that Israel will not uphold the basic rules of corporate responsibility,” the company added.

The coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed ahead with a dramatic restructuring that would increase the government’s control of the judiciary, allow it to overrule court decisions with the smallest majority and give it full power over the appointment of judges.

Foreign banks and big corporations, led by US investment giant JPMorgan Chase & Co., have recently warned that the Israeli government’s plans to overhaul the judicial system could harm international investment in the Jewish state.

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Domestically, big high-tech companies have protested the government’s plans and warned they will scare off foreign investors. Verbit CEO Tom Livne said last week that he would uproot his $2 billion company and stop paying taxes in Israel. He encouraged other CEOs to follow his example.

Critics say the sweeping reforms, along with other proposed legislation, will undermine Israel’s democratic character by disrupting the system of checks and balances, giving the executive almost complete power, and leaving individual rights unprotected and minorities unprotected.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin at a session of the Knesset’s Constitutional, Legal and Judiciary Committee on January 16, 2023. (Dani Shem-Tov/Knesset)

Innovesta reported that between December 2022 and January 2023 there was a 110 percent increase in jobs related to “democracy in Israel”.

Of the total mail flow between November 2022 and January 2023, the number of posts related to a “threat to democracy” in the country increased by 556%.

The Tel Aviv-based company says its software is able to automatically filter out “background noise” that could distort monitoring and analysis of online discussions.

Additionally, the company says Innovesta’s software can identify posts with higher credibility, such as from recognizable media or reputable accounts.

Innovesta monitors discourse on behalf of large companies, including some traded on the NASDAQ, allowing them to assess public sentiment before making large corporate decisions such as mergers or downsizing.

The company said it is the first time it has used its software – which is generally just the tool of private sector actors – to analyze national problems.

Innovesta, founded in 2016, presented its findings with some reservations, noting that it was aware of efforts to influence national discourse through the use of bots and fake accounts, including some that automatically publish and then delete their posts .

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