One day after Sludge reported that Democratic PR firm SKDK had agreed to build a bot-based social media program to “flood the zone” with pro-Israel messages as part of a contract with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the company announced it is cutting the contract short.
In comments to Politico, an SKDK spokesperson said the company stopped its work for Israel on August 31 and is in the process of de-registering as a foreign agent for the country. The spokesperson declined to explain why the company was ending its work for Israel, only saying that the work had “run its course.” The contract as signed in April 2025 was scheduled to run through March 2026.
In an email to Sludge, a spokesperson for SKDK’s parent company Stagwell said, “this work was done by SKDK in an advocacy division of Stagwell.” In a follow-up email, the spokesperson said that “no Stagwell agency planned or performed any bot work.”
Sludge asked the spokesperson if other divisions of Stagwell (e.g. the GOP-aligned Targeted Victory) had also canceled their contracts with the Israeli government, but did not receive a direct response. “As a network, we work with a broad range of clients and partners, and each agency operates with autonomy to select and manage their own client relationships. Our agencies work across the political and issue spectrum,” the spokesperson said.
The $600,000 contract that SKDK disclosed to the Department of Justice was signed by its parent company Stagwell as an agreement to perform the work as a subcontractor for the French PR firm Havas, which has a larger contract with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It included the development of a bot-based program to push pro-Israel messages on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms, along with media outreach and cultivating a network of influencers.
Among the SKDK personnel who were registered to perform the work for Israel are partner Bill Knapp, a former Obama and Clinton-Gore media advisor, and partner Jill Zuckman, formerly an assistant to the secretary and director of public affairs for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The company’s CEO is Doug Thornell, a former media strategist for the Democratic National Committee and a top DCCC spokesperson.
While its dropping the government of Israel as a client, SKDK is still operating the 10/7 Project, a joint PR initiative between the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federations of North America, the Anti-Defamation League, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that is “designed to promote continued U.S. bipartisan support for Israel by working to ensure more complete and accurate information about the Israel-Hamas war.”
